This Shinobi World
by xensenju
Summary: Uchiha Madara became the First Hokage and embraced Hashirama's ideals. Now, the current generation fights to complete that legacy. But, in this cursed reality, there is no such thing as peace. AU.
1. A Leaf

**A Leaf**

* * *

Konohagakure no sato.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves was a meshwork of shops, houses and compounds contained within the wall that defined the village border. The wall itself was surrounded by the forests that gave the village its name. At the center of Konoha stood the Hokage tower, which looked out over the village and was the workplace of its leader and protector. The tower faced the Hokage Monument, where the faces of the current and previous leaders lay etched in stone.

It was early, still too early for the civilian populace to be awake. Even the shinobi of the village remained mostly asleep, all except for those who patrolled the village at night or the most youthful of trainees.

In the pre-dawn hours, the Hokage Monument remained too dark to see clearly. But, if one were to look closely at the otherwise unremarkable faces—and luckily no one would for some time—the outline of a young boy might be visible.

However, Uzumaki Naruto was no stranger to stealth.

Naruto giggled maniacally to himself as he applied more paint. "You look so pretty, Yondaime-sama!"

The thought of the actual Fourth Hokage's reaction brought another round of laughter. Not too loudly of course, he was far too stealthy for that. Or at least that's what he thought to himself as he nodded along assuredly.

"Anyway, you should probably retire and give the cool hat to the Godaime. I mean just look at him, he's awesome!" He exclaimed.

"Tch, I'd say he leaves a lot to be desired." Another voice added in.

Naruto started, nearly losing his footing. Luckily, he recognized the voice instantly, "Gah, don't sneak up on me like that, Sasuke!"

"Hn. It's not my fault you can't sense me, loser," Sasuke replied.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto had already returned to painting along the faces of the Hokage, walking along the stone faces to add the necessary details for his masterpiece.

Sasuke just stared. "Are you _trying_ to spend the last few days of the academy in detention?" His voice was dripping with condescension and frustration. And if that didn't describe Sasuke in a nutshell, what did?

Naruto laughed. "More like reminding everyone where I'm going next. Besides, the view's amazing!"

And it was. From the top of the monument, the gently illuminated village seemed to be surrounded by an endless ocean of green-tinged darkness. Even as he said it, a breeze spread over the forest, and he watched as leaves further and further out swayed in that darkness.

"Yeah," Naruto said, continuing with a massive grin. "This is a great place to watch the chaos unfold!" He started painting again.

Sasuke did not take in the view. He didn't even look away from Naruto. He just watched, shuffling with increasing impatience as Naruto transitioned from the Fourth Hokage back to the "fifth."

"So, no training today?" Naruto scratched his head when he heard the question. Sasuke sounded way too frustrated for a day of him goofing off again. Seriously, what was his prob-oh. Oh.

He slowly stopped painting, Sasuke's bad mood washing over him. He picked his words carefully.

"Getting up here was basically morning cardio anyway. Not to mention all the running I'll be doing later. So you'll have to catch up to me there." His voice was light-hearted but subdued. Sasuke grunted in acknowledgement. "But after class we can go through everything. Full contact."

Sasuke mulled it over—the last two words seemed to do it for him—before nodding. He still looked pissed, but Naruto knew it wasn't actually directed at him.

"Have fun, dobe."

Sasuke looked around at the monument, in what Naruto chose to interpret as unadulterated admiration, and the tension dissipated somewhat. Sasuke left, scaling to the top of the monument before heading out. Naruto shook his head. Such a nice fellow. Very helpful.

Suddenly, he remembered something. "Wait!" He said, scaling up after Sasuke. The sky was looking slightly bluer by this point. He wouldn't have much time to add the finishing touches.

Sasuke turned back.

He used his best pleading face—and really he had several. This one was geared towards repeated requests. "I kind of, er, do you think you could-"

"Yeah, yeah. See you later." He replied, turning back almost immediately.

"Thanks, bro, you're the best!"

With that, Sasuke left.

* * *

Naruto was so hopeless sometimes. At times, it would have been amusing, but now it only made Sasuke think of one thing.

He shook his head before mumbling quietly, "Baka otouto."

* * *

Sakura left her house early in the morning. She closed the door quietly behind her. Of the many kind things she could say about her parents, being early risers was not among them. Luckily, they didn't need to be.

The sun was shining brightly. Her family's house was located closer to the outer edge of the circular compound than the main path that cut through it, so she walked along until she reached the wall. From there, she followed the path happily towards the main entrance.

Suddenly, a blur shot by her across the top of the wall, streaking by in the opposite direction.

"Hisakurabyesakura!" A familiar voice called before darting away again. She thought she could hear laughter in the distance as several angry blurs followed after him.

She sighed in exasperation, but there was a tiny smile working its way onto her face. "Naruto..." She shook her head.

Wait, if Naruto was spending the morning getting chased around the village, that meant...!

She continued down the road that lead to the main entrance with an extra skip in her step. When she finally reached the entrance, she waited, looking towards the adjacent part of the compound excitedly.

The Senju clan crests spaced at regular intervals along the wall of the compound stopped at the gate. They stretched back along the wall next to the path from which she had just come. On the other side of the entrance, the symbols were replaced with the Uchiha crest, trailing back out of sight along the opposite side.

The red and white fans stretched off into the distance, the occasional Uchiha milling about, but none of them were the one she was waiting for.

"He's not here, you know."

Sakura turned to a less welcome, but equally familiar face. Senju Noriko stared back at her. Two years her junior—not that you could tell from the way she looked at her—and heir to the clan.

Her arms were partially crossed over her body as she examined her nails disinterestedly, but then her eyes slid back to Sakura. " _I_ went to meet him at his house, but," she sighed dramatically, "he had already left. I thought he might show up here, but it's not like he had a good reason to. Even _he_ couldn't know I was going to surprise him." She laughed loudly, throwing her head back for emphasis before looking back to Sakura expectantly.

Right. Naruto was the one who always wanted to be around her. Sasuke probably had better things to do.

She took a short, calming breath. No biggie. She would just have to see him at school then.

"Ah well, thank you, Noriko," She gave a small bow, which probably looked more like a nod and began walking to school alone.

"Don't be disappointed, you never had a chance anyway." Then after a pause, she added, "Koji."

Sakura didn't turn back around. But, once she was far enough away, she sighed sadly to herself.

That girl.

The Senju and Uchiha had a long and brutal history together. First, as enemies during the Warring Clans Era and then as comrades in arms. Following the examples set by the First and Second Hokage, they put their grudges aside and survived together through three terrible world wars.

Over time, their bond grew closer than that of any clan. It was one of the reasons that their clan compounds, once separate, were now practically one and the same.

From this closeness in battle and proximity, affection between them was not uncommon.

The most honored clan marriage in the whole village, it was said, was between the Uchiha and Senju.

Her _name_ was Senju Sakura, but...Koji meant orphan. She was no Senju. Not really.

She nearly sighed again, but caught herself. Wasn't she just practically skipping down the street earlier? How quickly things change.

"Sakura."

Her head shot up so fast she heard her neck pop. Sasuke was standing casually on top of a small building to her right, a backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Sasuke!" Her hands came together in excitement as she beamed up at him. "You're here! I thought when I didn't see you at the gate you had left already and-oh my gosh, I left you at the gate didn't I? I mean, I didn't leave you, but I wasn't there for you-not that you need me to be there to walk to school or anything," She laughed nervously. She was rambling like an idiot. And Sasuke was looking like he was seriously reconsidering showing up. "Just, uh, glad to see you!" She smiled.

Contrary to her fears, he didn't run away but landed softly next to her on the street. He was carrying a second pack as well.

"Hn." He grunted, but he didn't look as uncomfortable as before.

"Oh well, better late than never! Ready to go, Sasuke?" She asked happily.

Sasuke looked back at her. He started to look uncomfortable again.

Great, what did she do? That was a normal question!

Finally, he spoke, "Noriko is a real piece of work, huh."

Oh great, he saw that. "Oh, uh, you saw that?"

He nodded, adjusting his pack. There was a short pause, then he spoke again. "You let that girl push you around too much."

Great, now Sasuke thought she was being bullied by a ten-year old.

"No, no, it's not like that." He looked highly skeptical at that. She wasn't getting pushed around by Noriko. Okay, she was a little, but... "It's complicated."

She looked back towards the direction of the compound. She couldn't exactly win the affection of the clan by chewing out their princess. Not to mention picking an actual fight. Besides, she was just a kid.

He grunted again, undoubtedly unconvinced. "If you say so."

They started walking.

Surprisingly, he broke the silence. "I hung back to avoid dealing with her by the way. Don't tell me the 'fangirl' has spread to their year too?"

Her heart skipped a beat, but she answered quickly. "Afraid so, she said she went to your house looking for you. Better be on the lookout for them!"

He gave an annoyed grunt at that and she laughed lightly at him. "Next thing you know, she'll bring Inuzuka Mina with her," she said, "can't hide from that."

Sasuke grunted some more, before replying, "I don't suppose you know a good way to hide your scent."

She laughed. "Nope, you're too smelly!" Her eyes widened. "I mean not that you smell, just that, uh," _Breathe, Sakura. You're rambling again. Relax, it's just Sasuke. Just Sasuke._ She took a breath. "Just that their noses are really sensitive."

"Hn."

"Actually, I was just reading about the effects of chakra on olfactory receptors. It doesn't actually change the structure, but it does amplify the signal. Also, it seems the Inuzuka naturally have a much higher density of receptors in the first place."

Sasuke grunted to indicate he was listening, but didn't add anything so she kept talking, first about receptors and then onto other things.

They fell into a familiar rhythm as they made their way to the academy.

This is how conversations ended up going the few times it was just the two of them. Sakura would delve into information about medical ninjutsu or geography or the like—trying to control her displays of affection—with Sasuke listening on as they made their way to the academy. Sometimes he would ask questions, but mostly he would just listen with the occasional grunt to indicate she said something he liked. Or at least that's how she interpreted it.

It would be more distressing, but occasionally he would relay or repeat any number of the obscure facts she had told him on previous walks.

It made these moments special.

And so, they made their way to the academy.

* * *

Sasuke sat near the back of the classroom as the teacher reviewed the Third Shinobi World War. Sakura was off to his right, but the chair to his left, where Naruto usually sat, was empty.

Of course, other people had _wanted_ to sit next to him, but his glares promised pain and torment and even the most ardent of his admirers didn't dare risk it without his permission. His fellow students, like Sakura next to him, were carefully taking notes, but he was distracted.

They were reviewing information from the school year for the upcoming Graduation Exam. They were graduating soon. Very soon.

"Can anyone tell me one of the major treaties that came from the war?" Few people seemed eager to answer. Of course, it only took one. "Yes, Sakura?"

"The Sovereign Shinobi Villages Treaty officially ended the war and made way for the signing of the Nonproliferation of Constructed Jinchuriki and Feudal States Treaties."

"Very good. Can anyone tell me what either of those were about?"

Kiba spoke up in a confident voice, smelling the low-hanging fruit, "The nonproliferation one was about not proliferating constructed jinchuriki."

The teacher looked unimpressed, but continued. "Yes, yes, the Third Shinobi World War was characterized, especially early on, by the creation and deployment of many powerful artificial jinchuriki that caused massive casualties on all sides. And-are you writing this down?" As people started and quickly began writing things down, Sasuke's mind wandered. He knew this already.

Unlike natural jinchuriki, artificial jinchuriki were made by sealing self-replicating chakra of sufficient concentrations instead of biju. Often times this chakra _was_ demonic chakra, and it was always dangerous. This technique, first used in the Second World War, had exploded in the Third and helped destabilize the balance of power maintained since the distribution of biju in the First. To avoid turning the countryside into a wasteland in the seemingly inevitable Fourth War, the creation of more artificial jinchuriki was outlawed internationally.

Creating additional jinchuriki was considered an act of war against all nations and the identities of all jinchuriki, artificial and otherwise, were recorded and known.

All but one.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Naruto was dropped on his face at the front of the class. He was hog tied, but otherwise looked no worse for wear. The class laughed loudly.

"Quiet, quiet! Thank you, anbu-san." The masked shinobi were out of sight, but presumably left quickly.

Naruto looked up with a grin. "What's up, sensei?"

Their teacher looked down disapprovingly. "Thank you for joining us, Uzumaki-san." The bell rang and the students quickly began to mill out for the next class. The teacher scheduled Naruto for detention and didn't bother to untie him.

A lot of the class laughed, poking fun at the bound Naruto as they passed. Naruto took it in stride, throwing back his own comments to amuse, embarrass, or infuriate the masses. All the while, he futilely hopped up and down on his stomach, trying to find a way to undo his restraints.

"...Agh, you smell like dog piss...well, my leg kinda itches. Don't worry I got it. Eh, eh, eh. Okay, maybe not...no limbs and I could still kick your ass...Totally worth it...it's a nice look for me though, don't you think? The mischievous rogue, looking up at his princess!"

That last one was to Sakura. She rolled her eyes. "I'm not your princess, Naruto." She took out a kunai to cut him free.

"But here you are, freeing me from my restraints! If that's not true love, what is?"

She just shook her head, cutting him free. He gave a big sigh of relief, which turned into a squawk of pain as she poked him in the ribs. "It's called friendship."

Naruto rolled over, rubbing his side while he looked up at her in contemplation, "Nope, still seems like love to me!"

Sakura sighed in exasperation as Naruto continued to pester her with outrageous compliments and assertions about her undying and/or inevitable love for him.

Sakura was way too kind to that idiot. Ah well, he might as well break it up before they were late for their next class.

"You can't deny it forever! 'Naruto, I love you.' Say it with me. 'Naruto, I love,'" Then Naruto noticed him standing behind him. He spun around, a huge smile breaking over his face.

"Sasuke!" That made Sakura blush, not that Naruto noticed. Honestly, he probably forgot the whole previous conversation already. Sasuke snorted internally at that.

"Have fun, dobe?"

Naruto giggled, no doubt reminiscing some dumb chunin's misfortune. "Man, you should've been there." He sighed contentedly, "I love glitter." He looked back to the Uchiha. "It's glorious by the way. Iruka-sensei is making me clean it up in addition to detention. But," he whispered conspiratorially, "some people can be in two places at once."

Sasuke nodded in recognition as the blonde spun back on Sakura. "You'll wait for me, won't you, Sakura-chan?" He asked with wide eyes.

Before Sakura could answer, Sasuke piped back up, "Save it, idiot. We've got class."

Naruto pouted at him. "Fine." He made to walk towards the door, before turning back. "Hey, did you-"

Sasuke threw Naruto his backpack. The blonde would say he didn't have time to grab it given his morning activities.

Sasuke was pretty sure he just forgot it. Again.

Naruto thanked him loudly as the second bell rang. The blonde grabbed Sakura and dragged her to their next class.

Sasuke just looked after him, standing alone in the empty classroom.

"You're welcome."

Even if the hyperactive knucklehead was annoying, he was also his best friend. He knew Naruto felt the same way. They would always have each other's backs.

And they would keep each other's secrets.

Because, if he couldn't trust his brother, who could he trust?

* * *

After class, Sakura and Sasuke waited for Naruto to find his chance to slip out of detention so that they could walk home together.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't go unmolested.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Forehead," Ino sneered at her. Sakura growled.

"What do you want Ino-pig? No one wants to see your ugly mug around here!"

Ino stuck her nose up in the air. "I'm sure some people could enjoy my company," she sidled up to Sasuke, "isn't that right, Sasuke-kuuuun?" She wrapped her arms around him. Sakura twitched angrily. Hands off!

Sasuke fixed Ino with one of the darkest glares Sakura had ever seen. Ino just squealed, cooing about how handsome Sasuke was.

The Uchiha shoved her roughly off of him and walked away towards the gate.

Ino stared after him in shock, but quickly composed herself. Of course, that was when she noticed Sakura laughing at her. "What are you laughing at?!"

"What happened to 'Sasuke will be mine' and your 'feminine touch,' Ino? Dont tell me you're losing your gift!" She laughed as Ino growled at her.

In reality, Sasuke's mood had been souring more and more throughout the day. As it was, it seemed like only Naruto could really pull him out of whatever dark thoughts were floating through his head. Sakura wanted so much to help, but she had no idea what was wrong. Any attempt she had made to ask had been met with stiff dismissal (and, as she began to notice, quick redirection by Naruto into another topic).

Her blonde friend seemed to know what the problem was, but she was kept out of the loop. Naruto didn't seem too worried however, so maybe she would leave it to him.

"Shut your mouth! It's not like Sasuke likes you any better!"

"Ha! Are you kidding, I spend nearly every day with him."

Ino glared imperiously at her. "As his _friend_ maybe. But face it, if you haven't become his girlfriend by now, it's never going to happen."

"That's not," she remembered herself, glancing toward where Sasuke was. He was out of hearing range, glaring at anyone who got too close. She stepped closer to Ino. "That's not true!" She ground out.

Ino smirked victoriously. "Don't blame me for not having the guts to tell him how you feel. Unless," her eyes slid knowingly to Sakura, "you already did. Oh, poor thing, he rejected you, didn't he?"

"No!" Not exactly.

Now Ino was laughing at her. "Well since you failed, I'm sure I'll capture Sasuke's heart in no time!"

"I didn't fail," Sakura said, perhaps still a little too emotionally. She quickly collected herself and gave Ino a small smirk, "But believe what you want, maybe I'll go enjoy my secret-uh, I mean my success. "

Ino gaped at her for a second before narrowing her eyes. "You're bluffing."

"Oh, definitely. Nothing to see here," Sakura said, glaring right back.

Ino regarded her carefully, looking for something in her eyes. Whatever it was, she must have found it because she looked away first. Then she smiled, "Better go save your secret success before someone else manages to snatch it away."

Sakura's head swerved back to Sasuke. She groaned. Noriko was chatting animatedly to the Uchiha, ignoring all his dark glares and following him whenever he tried to make an escape. If Sakura's attempts to do something didn't end up in the equivalent of a diplomatic incident, it would be a small miracle.

Ino laughed and Sakura stuck her tongue out at her. Then, Sakura made her way over to Sasuke.

Noriko's dark eyes spun to her. She smiled. "Oh, there you are, Sakura-chan," she said with false delight, "I was just telling Sasuke-kun that he and I should spend more time together. We are partners this year for the Clan Ceremony after all." She finished, attempting to blink flirtatiously at the Uchiha.

He had moved onto studiously ignoring the young Senju.

Sakura wasn't sure what to say. "Oh, yes, well, maybe another time."

Noriko was still smiling. "And why would that be? We should definitely walk home together. We can prepare for the ceremony and," she winked at Sasuke, "get to know each other."

"Uh, I don't think Sasuke-"

Another voice beat her to it. "Sasuke's busy," Naruto interjected harshly.

Noriko regarded him with surprise.

Naruto had already walked past her, nodding to Sasuke as they started to leave. Sakura followed after them. So did Noriko. They barely walked a few feet before Naruto turned back to the Senju. He leveled his own dark look at Noriko.

Apparently that fazed her. "What? I'm walking home!"

"But you weren't invited to walk with _us_ , now were you?"

The young Senju girl gaped at him. Naruto just waited for her to leave.

She opened her mouth to speak, but jumped in fear as Naruto cut her off.

" _Scram._ " Naruto growled. And, she was gone.

The intensity left Naruto's face in an instant. "The 'fangirl' spread to their year too? Seriously, stop being you, Sasuke! It's way too much hassle."

Sasuke just snorted. But Sakura was still hung up on Noriko. She hit Naruto on the arm.

"Naruto! That was mean!" She said.

Naruto rubbed the spot she hit, but didn't seem fazed by her admonishment. "What?" He said, "She started it."

"What are you talking about?! That was all you!"

Naruto smiled at her, throwing his hands behind his head, "Yeah, but she was annoying Sasuke." Sakura looked unconvinced. "Not to mention some anonymous sources informed me that she was a real brat this morning."

It took Sakura a second to put two and two together. She spun on Sasuke.

"What did you say to him?" She yelled.

Sasuke regarded her lazily. "Just enough obviously," he responded. There was a ghost of a smirk there though. "Look, he's all protective now."

She tried and failed to be mad at the Uchiha. No wonder Naruto was acting like he just beat up a bully and saved the girl.

"That's right. Nobody messes with my girl, no matter how tiny without getting an Uzumaki smackdown!" He yelled triumphantly, holding his fist in the air.

Sakura shoved him. "I'm not your girl, Naruto."

He gave his trademark grin. "Not yet! But what kind of Hokage can't sway hearts and minds?"

Sakura's eyes glittered dangerously. "I'll sway something!"

Naruto squeaked in fear, sliding behind Sasuke as Sakura advanced on him. "Sasuke, save me," he whined, clinging to the Uchiha.

"What kind of Hokage cowers from opposition?" Sasuke helpfully supplied.

"One who doesn't want to get killed by me!" Sakura yelled, holding her fist in the air.

Sasuke smiled at her, his eyes glinting with laughter.

And then, she found herself laughing too, the stress of the day diffusing away as they made their way home together.

* * *

They parted ways at the gate. Sakura went one way, while Naruto and Sasuke went another. Eventually, they made their way back to their house, a large two story building near the center of the Uchiha half of the compound.

As they entered, Sasuke rushed up the stairs. Naruto wasn't so lucky.

"NARUTO!" His mother roared at him. Naruto cowered. "What's this I hear about you vandalizing the Hokage Monument?" Kushina asked with fire in her eyes.

Naruto wanted to interject and explain that he hadn't vandalized the Monument. He had improved it. Totally different. But, he knew better than to interrupt his mom during one of her moments of passionate parenting.

Well, unless you knew how.

Kushina's red hair stood on end as she towered over her son. "Dattebane! Do you know how much trouble you're in?" She yelled.

Naruto just held his hands up in defense.

"Why I ought to-" then Kushina noticed what was in Naruto's hands. All the anger left her face in an instant as she started to drool slightly. "Is that Ichiraku R-ramen?"

Naruto put on his most apologetic face. "I was so sorry and knew you would be disappointed in me. But I didn't want you to be sad, so I brought you a present. I'm really sorry, kaa-chan." He glanced up with puppy-dog eyes.

Kushina nabbed the box and was scarfing down the ramen in an instant, suddenly sitting happily at the kitchen table. She waved off his apologies. "Aw, that's alright. You're such a good boy, aren't you?" She slurped up a long noodle, sighing in content. "Don't worry about, uh," she took a second, trying to remember what she had been scolding him for. Then she shrugged, "whatever it was."

"Your parenting style still surprises, Kushina," Fugaku said as he entered the kitchen.

Kushina finished, slurping up another noodle and gave Fugaku a goofy, contented grin. "Whaaat? He said he was sorry for the thingy he did," Kushina whined distractedly, gesturing with her chopsticks before scarfing down more ramen.

Naruto's stepfather sighed minutely, but his eyes were soft. "There's more to it than that though, dear," he said, before rounding on Naruto. His eyes hardened. "Although, I'm sure these childish antics won't continue. Will they?"

Naruto looked down with a scowl. "No."

If Fugaku was going to say anything else, it was cutoff by Sasuke rumbling down the stairs. His tanto was on his back. He didn't acknowledge anyone, just grabbed Naruto and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Kushina asked curiously. Fugaku watched intensely.

Naruto held back on Sasuke, and the Uchiha turned around. "Training," Sasuke grunted out. That seemed to satisfy Kushina, who went back to her ramen.

Fugaku looked down on him. "That's my boy."

Sasuke tensed as if he was going to say something that he would probably regret, but Naruto tugged him out the door. "Bye!"

"Mmm, eat with me, Fugaku-kun!" Kushina said, dragging Fugaku to the table as they left.

Outside, Sasuke glared at him, shoving him off and hopping away towards the training grounds. Naruto shook his head as Kushina and Fugaku began to talk.

 _Slurp_. "How was your meeting with the Hokage?" She asked.

"You know Hatake-sama. I'm not one to argue with the Hokage about..." Fugaku's voice faded away as Naruto chased after Sasuke.

* * *

They punched, kicked, ran, squatted, walked on trees, practiced their jutsu, threw their shuriken, and hid. They stretched, did pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, crunches on the grounds, and crunches hanging from trees. They took a break, drank water, and pictured the next great technique they would use.

Then, they fought.

Naruto's clones were spread out along the ground and through the trees. They were all surrounding Sasuke.

With a roar, they charged. The Uchiha's head was down as they approached. Finally, as the first wave of clones neared him, he looked up. The bright red of the Sharingan spun in his eyes.

He clasped handfuls of kunai in between his knuckles. He let them loose, and they flew through the air at alarming speeds. Some thunked into the approaching clones. Others grazed them just enough to dispel them. Occasionally, as he threw handful after handful, they would collide with each other, ricocheting in some unexpected direction to take out some unsuspecting clone.

His Sharingan allowed him to use his projectiles to their fullest, ensuring the maximum number of clones would be destroyed.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. As Sasuke flipped through the air, a clone flew headfirst towards him. He sunk a kunai into its chest, but two more followed suit from either side, thrown by the numerous other clones around. He twisted through the air, dodging them, and landed on the forest floor with his tanto out.

Then, he stabbed above him, dispelling a clone falling down with an axe kick.

The right thing to do was retreat, whittling down Naruto's clones until he could lock onto the real one. A calm assessment of the battlefield regardless of the particular details was why Sasuke often came out on top.

Sasuke faced front.

Immediately, he found himself twisting out of the way of a kunai, before deflecting punches and kicks from three different locations at once. Even as he dispelled the clones, another rose up to take its place. He ducked, flipped, twisted, and skirted as he tore through the scores of clones. But it wasn't enough.

He deflected a kick, ripping his tanto through the offending clone, but the impact had him sliding back. Another kick from the side snuck through his guard and sent him tumbling to the forest floor.

A Naruto landed on top of him with a kunai, stabbing down toward his face. He deflected its kunai with the flat of his tanto, palmed an exploding tag, and slapped it to the clone's chest. He slid his knees to his chest and pushed the clone into the air with his legs, catching a punch to the face for his troubles.

The tag exploded, eliminating that clone and killing other descending clones as well. Sasuke rolled to his feet. His lip started to ache painfully. He spat the blood onto the ground and snarled.

As more clones advanced, he rushed recklessly into the sea of orange, tearing through the blondes in search of the real one. He twisted, slid and ducked as he sliced through them, but every now and then a clone would hit him, clipping him with some punch, kick or slam.

He thought he saw the real one between the clones, but through the constant motion, the blonde would evaporate, melding into the waves and waves of duplicates. He snarled and pushed forward.

Another clone clipped him, slamming full body past him with incredible speed and exploding into nothingness as it collided into the trees. But the real Naruto was... _there!_

He darted through the clones, skirting past them with inhuman grace. The clones slid closer together, forcing him to cut his way through as he reached for the real one.

And then, a hand wrapped around his ankle. He tumbled, landing awkwardly on his shoulder as his momentum carried him forward. He slid, careening into a tree, but rolled to his side to avoid the clone that had tried to land on him. It dispelled against the hard surface of the tree trunk.

Sasuke smiled in satisfaction, but it contorted into a grimace of pain as his shoulder flared angrily. More Narutos were approaching and he had to do something.

His body protested.

With a yell of exertion, he flipped sideways onto his feet, sliding through handsigns.

 _Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu! (Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!)_

And the forest of Narutos burned.

Sasuke was breathing heavily. Then, there was a crack from behind him.

No! He had let his guard down! He spun to deflect an incoming blow, but there was nothing there. From above, something crashed into him, slamming him into the floor as his head spun.

He lashed out with his tanto before realizing he had dropped it. His head hurt along with the rest of his body as he struggled to defend himself. The Naruto punched him, pinning him down along the edge of the charred forest floor.

He lashed out with a punch of his own that connected, the clone grunted but didn't dispel. His eyes told him why. Another fist collided against his head.

He held up his arms to protect himself as Naruto rained punches down on him. The punches bounced against his forearms as he covered his face. Then, he felt a could touch of metal on his neck.

"Gotcha, Sasuke," Naruto said, holding his kunai to the Uchiha's neck.

Sasuke's throat tightened as the defeat bubbled up inside him. He should have relaxed, accepting his loss for what it was, but he couldn't. Not today.

He slid his arms down, slapping his hand around the Uzumaki's wrist. He pulled him off balance and swept his legs out from underneath him. They rolled until Sasuke was on top.

Now he rained punches down on Naruto, causing him to lose his grip on his kunai. Sasuke's fists bounced off the blonde's face again and again before he felt Naruto's feet against his chest. Naruto kicked him off, and the Uchiha flipped through the air, skidding back as he landed on his feet.

Naruto got to his feet slowly.

But Sasuke was breathing heavily, angrily as despair threatened to overwhelm him.

Even if Naruto had been a real enemy who for some reason had hesitated in killing him, his escape had been too slow.

He would have died.

He would have failed.

He glared at Naruto, who glared back.

Sasuke wondered if Naruto could see the pain behind his eyes the same way he could see the sadness behind Naruto's.

Sasuke just needed to hit something and get hit until the pain went away. Naruto was there for him.

Naruto charged. Then Sasuke punched him in the face. And, Naruto punched him right back. Again and again, they traded blows, until all they could feel was their bruises and exhaustion.

Almost two years ago, Uchiha Itachi had disappeared.

Their brother— _his_ brother—who had always been there for them and who had helped them become the people they were, was gone. He had vanished on an otherwise uneventful border patrol mission. A simple B-Rank mission for the prodigy of the Uchiha clan.

He had taught them their jutsu. The Shadow Clone. The Great Fireball. He had looked to them and said that he would help them become great.

He had said that he would always be there for them with advice and assistance as they marked each milestone on their way to greatness.

One such milestone was Graduation.

He had talked about watching them graduate, had planned to give them scrolls—which they had found—as well as his kind words and wisdom—which they had not.

He wasn't going to be there to watch them graduate. For all they knew, he might never be there again.

So they fought until they couldn't fight anymore.

* * *

AN: I'm pretty sure Koji doesn't actually mean orphan. Koji minashigo was one translation though, so I just grabbed the first part because it sounded pejorative. Obviously, I don't speak Japanese.


	2. A Legend

**A Legend**

* * *

Tell me, how will you confront this shinobi world?

* * *

 _"Ugh, we've been walking forever," Naruto whined, "when are we gonna stop Itachi-nii?"_

 _Sasuke didn't agree with the young Naruto—that would be too much to ask for—but_ _his pouting intensified in silent alliance._

 _Itachi turned his head back slightly, as he had done countless times before, gave a closed-eye smile and continued walking._

 _Naruto groaned loudly._

 _Each of them carried a camping pack on their backs. When Itachi had first mentioned that they would be going on the trip, Naruto had jumped and hollered and cheered for days. Sasuke had tried to hide his own excitement, but even he would devolve into quiet fits of giggles at the prospect of the trip._

 _Most of this excitement was predicated on the promise that went along with it. Itachi was going to teach them his most powerful technique!_

 _Naruto was starting to hope that it wasn't the power to walk long distances or better yet torture small children (in reality, Itachi was skilled at each)._

 _"Argh, are we there yet? Or, ooh, ooh, we can take a break and you teach us the super jutsu right now!" Naruto laughed triumphantly. Sasuke harrumphed in agreement._

 _Itachi smiled again. But, this time, he spoke, "Patience."_

 _Naruto groaned again. Sasuke swore that Itachi's smile got just a little bit wider at that, and that made this all slightly better. He and Naruto may not have been at each other's throats anymore, but that didn't mean he wasn't still a pain._

 _They had been walking for nearly four hours. Naruto had been complaining for the previous two. But, it was only in the last hour that his complaints seemed to go from annoying to agreeable._

 _"Naruto is...right," Sasuke ground out, "We've been walking for hours."_

 _"See, even Sasuke agrees with me!" Naruto yelled._

 _"Sasuke is agreeing with you? Hm, that doesn't sound right..." Itachi replied._

 _"But it is, right Sasuke?!" Naruto said, looking expectantly toward him. Itachi also looked toward him with an "inquisitive" look on his face. Now, Sasuke knew he was the one Itachi was picking on. He grumbled to himself and didn't answer._

 _Itachi laughed this time, reaching out to ruffle Sasuke's hair. Sasuke immediately tried to straighten it back out, a small pout working its way onto his face._

 _Itachi looked to Naruto "Don't worry, we're almost there."_

 _Naruto, who had previously been dragging behind, shot forward with a burst of energy. "Yatta! Well, what are we waiting for, come on!" Itachi looked sheepishly after him as he ran off ahead of them._

 _Finally, they made it to the top of a large, grassy hill with a sheer drop off. Naruto was cheering and dancing near the top. Sasuke dropped off his pack behind him, and whacked Naruto on the head. Idiot._

 _Naruto quickly recovered rushing down towards Itachi, "So are you going to teach us this jutsu way up here so we don't destroy anything? What's it gonna be? A huge lightning storm? A fireball that explodes?" Itachi kept walking._

 _"I never said anything about a jutsu," Itachi replied. Naruto froze and then started complaining twice as loudly as before. Sasuke would have joined in, but...there was something about this place._

 _Itachi kept walking. He walked to nearly the end of the hilly ledge and looked out past the cliff. He was very quiet and still, even as the wind blew past them and the tall grass rustled around them. Surprisingly, even Naruto seemed to sense something was off. He calmed down and looked quizzically toward Itachi._

 _"Uh, what's wrong, Itachi-nii?" Naruto asked. He glanced towards Sasuke. There was an uncomfortable stillness to everything around them, interjected only by the occasional breath of wind._

 _"Aniki?" Sasuke volunteered. There was no response._

 _Finally, Itachi took a long, quiet breath. He turned to face them. Sasuke thought he saw a flicker of something in his eyes, but whatever it was left quickly._

 _"Naruto, Sasuke. Come here."_

 _Sasuke found himself looking at Naruto, who looked back at him with the same look of uncertainty he had. They walked forward together, looking out over the cliff from either side of Itachi._

 _It appeared to be an old battlefield. The terrain was littered with rusted weapons, upturned boulders and scorch marks. What grass there was grew unevenly between patches of barren earth. Sasuke thought for a moment that he would see a body, clutching onto a half-broken weapon or sticking out from the beneath the dirt._

 _Then Itachi began to speak._

* * *

Sasuke's eyes snapped open, his dreams dissolving into wisps: a general recollection, a sense of the moment and then nothingness.

He thought he might have dreamed of happier times.

He rolled over. Naruto was still sleeping in the other bed.

It was three minutes before his alarm would go off, but Sasuke rolled out of bed anyway. In those minutes, he dressed, grabbed his weapons, and slipped silently out of his house. The sound of the alarm and Naruto's groans filtered down to him. The blonde might join him eventually, but Sasuke couldn't wait.

He had his own happiness to find.

* * *

Today was the day.

Not graduation, that had come and gone. No, Sakura thought to herself, today was team assignments.

And, she was terrified.

"Ah, it'll be fine, Sakura-chan," Naruto reassured her. They were sitting in class, waiting for Iruka-sensei to announce the various teams that would split the graduating class into their groups of Genin.

Sakura's two best friends were sitting on either side of her. That was to say, her only two friends. And that, it seemed, summed up her fears in a nutshell.

"The old man wouldn't dare split us up!" Naruto continued.

Naruto always amazed her with how sure he was about everything. Are you sure you can call the Hokage old man? Are you sure you can get out of detention?

Even when they had first become friends nearly two years ago, he had this same self-assured attitude. He had swooped in, landing between her and a bully that had wanted to "teach her a lesson" for "thinking she was better than everyone else because she was a Senju."

Naruto ran his mouth and got ready to beat up the much larger bully.

As the bully approached, Sakura had whispered, "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Totally," he had responded.

Yeah.

She met Sasuke when he arrived to help the battered Naruto. He, on the other hand, took the bully down easily. That certainly hadn't helped with her already blossoming crush.

So, she didn't ask him if he was sure, knowing he would be and knowing it didn't necessarily mean he was right. Instead, she let out a pitiful noise as her stomach twisted.

Part of her wished she could have Naruto's certainty to the point of stupidity, but she didn't. She lived in a world of uncertainties, and while it wasn't great for her heart, it was quite good for being right.

"Sakura. Sakura!" She was pulled out of her thoughts by Naruto, who looked at her with outlandish passion and determination. "Say it with me. We're gonna be a team!"

"The probability of that isn't great. Maybe they know we're friends, but-"

"Nah, nah, nah-nah-nah." He interrupted, crossing his arms in an 'X'. "I said, we're gonna be a team!"

She stared at him and he stared back and she knew he wasn't going to stop. So she said, "We're gonna be a team."

"What? I can't hear you! I said, we're gonna be a team!" He yelled, smiling.

"We're gonna be a team!" She said more loudly. Part of her just wanted him to shut up, but it also felt good saying it. She clung to those good feelings like a drowning girl to her life-preserver.

"That's right!" He threw his fist in the air, "We're gonna be a team! We're gonna be a team! We're gonna be-"

"Ugh, shut up, Naruto," Sasuke interjected.

"What?! I can't hear you over all our teamwork, Sasuke! Did you hear that-We're gonna be a team! We're gonna be a team!"

Sasuke growled, throwing a scroll at Naruto, who just laughed, continuing his chant. Sasuke turned to her, "Sakura, I need you to do something," he said, "kill him for me. Now."

"Aw, what's the matter, Sasuke? If you want me to stop saying—we're gonna be a team!—you should stop me yourself. Otherwise, we're gonna be a team!"

"Don't tempt me," Sasuke said.

"It's okay, Naruto, thank you, I feel a bit better now," Sakura said. And, it was true.

They were friends. They would still be friends later—probably—and besides that, they were gonna be a team! She smiled slightly at that.

Naruto beamed at her. "Anything to cheer _you_ up, Sakura-chan!" He said and she shook her head at his crush shining through. "But I wonder who our Jonin-sensei is gonna be."

"Who knows? There are lots of Jonin in the village. It's the Genin that decide the type of team, more or less, so that doesn't help either." Sasuke responded.

"Yeah, but they'll need someone awesome to teach us! I mean we've got the future Hokage, the most beautiful kunoichi in the world-"

"Naruto," she reprimanded lightly, but it was nice of him to say.

"-and, of course, the cutest sidekick in all of Konoha! We'll be unstoppable!" Naruto said, laughing.

Sasuke flipped Naruto off. "If anything, you'd be my sidekick," he replied, "Rookie-of-the-year, remember?"

Naruto scowled. He had finished somewhere in the middle of the class. "No, you'd be mine because I can kick your ass, remember?"

"Ha, wanna bet, dead-last?"

"Stop it, both of you," Sakura said. They really would fight in the classroom and that wouldn't be good. Then a mischievous thought entered her head. "We all know you're both my sidekicks!"

Sasuke just rolled his eyes while Naruto looked surprised then laughed loudly, complimenting her for a "good one" before winking at her and talking about being her sidekick anytime.

She just shook her head. And then, there was Iruka-sensei, and she realized she had been too distracted to worry.

Well, might as well make up for lost time.

"As of today, you are all ninja. You have all worked so hard to get here, and I'm proud to have been your teacher." He smiled and next to her Naruto grinned brightly back at Iruka-sensei. "As you know, you will be split into three-man teams under a Jonin-sensei. These are the teams. First, Team 1 under Hyuuga Doto..."

Sakura's mind wandered. Naruto was friendly with the Hokage, maybe that meant it was more likely they would be together? But Hokage shouldn't make decisions like that! Well, the Fourth was known for his emphasis on friendship and camaraderie. A sentiment which was very popular after the disastrous reign of the Third and the war th-

Argh, the tests were over. But the decision filled her with a similar anxiety.

Well, they had already decided, nothing to do now, but find out what the decision had been.

"Team 7 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Senju Sakura. You will be led by Uchiha Obito."

Yes! The weight lifted off her shoulders. She wanted to cheer.

She was so happy that she almost missed Naruto and Sasuke freeze on either side of her. Naruto's head hit the desk with a _thunk._

Sasuke just scowled. "Typical."

* * *

The Fourth Hokage looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "You're late, Obito."

The Uchiha grinned. "It's something of a habit." Then he looked down at the crystal ball on the Hokage's desk. The other Jonin had already left. It scrolled over the graduating class of the academy, stopping on a particular group of three students. "Hm, I wonder who's on my team."

"The Uchiha clan heir and an S-rank secret, just for you."

Obito nodded. "Oh boy. You shouldn't have, Sakumo-sama." His eyes drifted over to Sakura. "And the girl?"

The White Fang leaned back in his chair. "A Senju. Well, an adopted one at least. She fills the gap well. Strong focus towards medical ninjutsu that is already way ahead of her peers. All three of them are quite capable." Then, after a pause, he continued, "They have the potential to be the next great Team 7."

Obito's eyes flickered up to meet Sakumo's at that. The Yondaime looked as he often did: a mixture of solemn, hopeful, and kind.

"And you trust me with that? I'm the only member of Team 7 left."

There was a long silence as the pain of past failures bubbled up around them. Obito's gaze traveled unbidden to the north wall of the village.

Finally, Sakumo broke the silence. "Yes. But, these three will help uphold the legacy of Minato...and Kakashi...and Rin." Obito looked down at her name. Sakumo continued reassuringly, "You will do great. Mold them into something great. Make them ready to change the world."

Obito looked up, regaining some of his positive personality. "I was going to do that anyway! But, since you asked so nicely, I'll make it flashy too!"

* * *

Naruto was steaming, pacing back and forth, looking at the door, then to the clock, letting loose some noise of frustration before pacing back and forth again. "Ugh! Where is he?! Goddamn it, Obito!" Naruto yelled.

They had been waiting for nearly 3 hours.

Sasuke was sitting, his head down, resting on his arms. His head popped out to comment. "Come on, we knew this was going to happen." Naruto just yelled in frustration again.

Patience was not his strong suit.

Sakura put two-and-two together, "You've met our sensei already? Because he's an Uchiha?"

"Yeah," Sasuke began before Naruto cut him off.

"He's the laziest person ever! Not to mention how crazy annoying he is! We could be here all night because he's petting old ladies or running into black cats or something! For all we know, he's actually forgotten about us!"

Naruto had stopped pacing, but instead was rustling through his bag and searching through the classroom for anything that could be used as pranking materials. He started setting up an elaborate trap, covering every conceivable entrance.

Sakura piped up again. "Uh, don't you mean that the other way around?"

Naruto gave her a deadpan look. Sasuke snorted. Naruto opened the door, leaving a little surprise in the hallway before, putting an eraser above the door and rigging a series of wires.

"It can't be that bad," Sakura said with a tinge of uncertainty.

"He's the worst," Naruto reiterated.

Sasuke smirked. "Oh no. You mean we're going to have to deal with someone annoying and forgetful?" He turned to Sakura with a deadpan. "I don't think I can handle that."

Naruto twitched at that. Screw you, Sasuke.

Sakura smiled. "I know, if only we knew someone who could prepare us for such things. I've never been annoyed at a teammate before, do you know how I should handle it?"

Naruto reached into his pouch for a wire, ignoring his terrible teammates.

"I don't know. If I ever have to deal with laziness and constant pestering, I'll be sure to tell you. Naruto, have _you_ ever dealt with such things?" Sasuke asked.

"Ha. Ha." Naruto replied, but he was distracted attaching a series of wires to the chalkboard eraser above the classroom door. "But, I'm serious. He's supposed to be teaching us. Are you telling me you think Obito would be a good Jonin-sensei?"

Sasuke grunted at that, but responded anyway. "Well, he is supposed to be some kind of badass."

"Exactly, supposed to be!" Naruto said as he finished the trap above the door and went to the windows. A can of paint was propped carefully over the window. "Have you ever seen any badassery from him? No!"

"He's avoided every trap you've tried to catch him with," Sasuke offered. Naruto growled in response.

"He _is_ supposed to be very highly ranked," Sakura added, "Some say he's next in line to be Hokage."

"I'm next in line to be Hokage," Naruto growled, finishing his trap over the final window. "Believe it."

Finally, a hand slid in through the sliding door. All of their heads snapped to it as it opened. The eraser fell, unbalancing the wires. An explosion sounded in the hallway and white powder puffed into the room. The eraser bounced off the floor as the door slid the rest of the way open.

Empty.

A voice suddenly rang out behind them. "Whew, I hope no one was out there!"

Naruto turned around angrily, "How!?"

Obito looked to him, "Hm, oh well you see there was this old cat lady and-"

"Argh, that's not what I meant! How did you get in? I covered everywhere," he said, a touch of defeat creeping into his voice.

"Oh, that?" He looked up, apparently thinking his answer over, then, "I'm me!" Naruto groaned, slumping his head onto a desk.

Obito smiled over the grumbling, "Hey, Sasuke."

The young Uchiha grunted in acknowledgement. Obito smiled. "Same old Sasu-chan. And you must be Sakura."

"It's nice to meet you, sensei."

"It is, isn't it?" Obito said with a smile.

Sakura didn't know how to respond to that.

"All righty then," he continued hopping up suddenly, darting over to the window, "let's head to the roof! Normally we'd take the stairs, but, well, you know," he said, gesturing to the pranked hallway as he opened the window. Naruto gave a hopeful look...which reverted back to stunned defeat.

The paint can over the window was just gone.

Obito hopped out before poking his head back in. "Well, are you coming?" Then he disappeared back out the window, making his way to the roof.

The three friends looked between each other.

"The worst," Naruto said.

"But," Sakura began tentatively, "kind of a badass?"

Sasuke smirked, "Come on."

Each of them made their way out the window, scaling up the side of the academy with the Tree-Walking technique. It was the type of warm, pleasant day that helped make Konoha such a beautiful village. When they got to the roof, Obito was looking out over the village, towards the Hokage Tower. He seemed to be thinking about something.

"And time!" He said, snapping out of his silence like a firecracker, "Man, you guys are slow." He sighed dramatically. "Anyway, sit, sit. It's time for introductions!"

"We already know each other." Naruto grumbled.

Obito cocked his head to the side. "Do you? Huh." He shrugged. "Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future! For instance, my name is Obito. I have likes and dislikes. I even have hobbies! As for my dreams for the future, well you're a bit too young to know about those," He said, ending with a wink.

Naruto grumbled to himself. He hadn't told them anything! Not that he would care if Naruto called him out on it.

"Sakura, why don't you go first?" Their sensei continued.

"Um, I like-"

"What's your name, Sakura?" Obito coaxed gently.

"Sakura..." she said slowly. Obito nodded to her encouragingly before motioning for her to continue. "My name is Senju Sakura. I like my family, my, uh, friends, and learning about interesting topics. I dislike Ino-pig and unhelpful rules. My hobbies are spending time in the Konohagakure Clinical Laboratory and reading books. My dream for the future, is, uh," She glanced towards Sasuke but said, "To live up to my family's reputation."

"Very good!"

Sasuke was sitting to her right, so he went next.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have many likes, and I have many dislikes. I don't have any hobbies. My dream is not a dream, because I won't stop until it becomes a reality. I will find him."

Obito nodded solemnly. He turned to Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like Sakura-chan, Sasuke, and ramen! I dislike the time it takes to cook the ramen. My hobbies are trying different types of ramen and having ramen-eating competitions! My dream for the future is to help Sasuke with what he said, and then, I'm going to become Hokage, dattebayo!"

"Excellent introductions, everyone! Now, you know what comes next!" Obito exclaimed cheerfully, smiling with a brightness that they would come to associate with oncoming pain and humiliation.

At the time, the genin only looked between themselves in confusion. "Uh, we do?"

* * *

Two bells were held in front of them on identical red strings. Obito rung them together. "The goal of the test is simple. Those who get these bells from me will pass. Those who do not will fail and be sent back to the academy. Scary, right? So you better not fail!"

They had been waiting there since 6AM, as per their sensei's instructions, for their second genin test. Mostly they had alternated taken naps until he had arrived.

Not that it did much good, Sakura was still tired, too tired even to really comment on Obito's late arrival. She had left that to Naruto and Sasuke, who chewed Obito out after he had given some weird excuse (really just Naruto, Sasuke had just given one of his more annoyed grunts.)

Finally, he had pulled out the bells and explained the nature of the test, but there was a problem.

"There are only two bells," Sakura started, as Naruto interjected.

"You can't do that! We're a team. You can't force one of us back to the academy!" He yelled. The lack of sleep only seemed to make him more annoyed.

"Hm, I guess I'll just send all of you back to the academy then."

Naruto gave a low growl.

"Seriously though, that would be way less work for me," Obito responded wistfully before continuing, "You have until noon to get a bell." He pulled out a timer, setting it and placing it on one of the posts in the center of the large clearing. Trees surrounded them on either side and from behind, but the clearing gave way to a crystal blue stream that flowed past in front of them. "Any questions?"

They didn't have any.

"Good! Oh, one more thing," His cheery demeanor fell away for a second, "If you want to win, you better come at me with the intent to kill."

Sakura felt a chill pass over her, but it passed quickly as Obito smiled again. "All right! Let's begin. In three, two, one. Go!"

They all darted into the trees to their left. Or at least they tried to. Obito crashed into Naruto with an amazing burst of speed. And, as soon as Sakura and Sasuke landed, shuriken tore after them, screaming past the trees with vicious efficiency. Sakura twisted to her right behind a tree as Sasuke deflected the ones flying towards him. There was another rush of metal and Sasuke cursed.

"Move!" He yelled, jumping past her. She obeyed without question as the trees exploded behind them.

They jumped deeper into the forest. Behind them, she could hear Naruto yelling something, maybe a jutsu name, but it was faint. And she didn't have much time to think about it as more shuriken were still being thrown at them from a much closer distance.

She dodged left as Sasuke dodged right. She slid her staff from her back. Another wave of shuriken flew toward her and she carefully deflected them, wary of more exploding tags, before sliding behind a tree. Her heart was pounding, her drowsiness long gone, but she was breathing heavily. She slowed her breathing as best she could as Sasuke exchanged shuriken with Obito.

Sakura quickly dug through her pouch for an exploding tag. She slapped it against the tree she was hiding behind and darted forward. She rushed past Sasuke, "Come on!"

For some reason, he paused but then followed after her. She waited a beat. Another round of shuriken screamed towards them. She set the tag off and darted right with Sasuke this time.

The explosion shook the trees around them as they descended towards the forest floor. As they fell, Sasuke flipped elaborately through the tress throwing multiple shuriken back from where they came before landing with a flourish. His eyes were blood red.

She landed next to him. Her face was flushed and she was breathing deeply, but she felt pretty good. Sasuke was still looking back towards the clearing tensely. Then he relaxed slightly. Guess they got him.

"Wasn't Obito fighting Naruto in the clearing?" She asked as she caught her breath.

"Must have been some type of clone," Sasuke responded distractedly. His eyes were still scanning their surroundings just in case.

"What, like Naruto's Shadow Clones?" Sakura asked. That would certainly explain it. And would be a major problem if he could use them like Naruto could.

"Maybe," he grunted out, before glancing toward her. "Thanks."

Now that felt awesome. It was a bit unnecessary though. Of course she would have his back.

"No problem." She smiled brightly at him. "Teammates, right?"

He didn't respond immediately. Sakura slowly stopped smiling. Uncertainty began to bubble up inside of her. Then, the reason for his silence and discomfort dawned on her.

"Look, Sakura," he began, but she cut him off.

"There's only two bells," she said, almost to herself, before looking painfully towards Sasuke, "which means you have to pick between-between the two of us, and, of course, if it's a choice between me and Naruto, you're going to pick...you're going to pick Naruto. Right, yeah."

And that hurt. A lot.

But, she could hardly bring herself to be angry at him. It made sense. She was his...friend? But they were brothers. It wasn't even a contest.

Sasuke had the decency to at least look uncomfortable if not outright guilty. "Sorry," he said.

He looked like he was trying to think of something else to say to let her down more gently, but he ultimately gave up. "I have to find Naruto." And with that he jumped off to the right, perhaps planning to circle back to the clearing and find the aforementioned blonde.

Part of her wanted to follow him and do something to change his mind. Another part wanted to help him, knowing he would leave her behind. The rest of her didn't know what to do.

That was the part that wanted to cry.

She couldn't bring herself to follow him. The most she could do was stay out of the way.

* * *

Obito looked at him curiously. "You're not very good at this, are you?"

Oh, how Naruto wanted to smack that look off his face. Not that he was having much success. He couldn't even touch him, let alone devise a plan for the bells. His clones kept on eating shuriken. And the ones that got close...

"Ole!" Obito said as he flipped between two clones, the first went flying over him and the other went under. But instead of getting nailed by the two clones hurtling towards his now vulnerable, airborne form from either side, Obito grabbed the ankle of the clone who had flown over his head, and _twisted_ , spinning the clone through the other clone projectiles before landing gently on the ground as the chakra smoke dissipated above him.

Then he immediately sidestepped the clone waiting underground, innocuously dropping a reel of exploding tags.

"Whoopsie," Obito said cheerfully. The resulting explosion, killed off the rest of his clones and sent Naruto careening back into the center of the clearing.

He righted himself with some trouble as Obito walked out the smoke dusting himself off and whistling a jolly tune.

"Ugh, okay, plan, uh..." He was kind of running out of those. Obito had sent a clone after Sasuke and Sakura, and then there had been a few explosions.

He didn't think Obito would _kill_ his teammates necessarily, but they did need his help. Unfortunately, Obito was still standing between them and him.

"Boo! I'm bored. Don't you have anything else?" Obito yawned. "Man, I should carry along something to read. Huh...I would have gotten through so many books."

Oh, Naruto really wanted to smack that look off his face. But that line of thinking wasn't going to help right now. Breathe. Think about your options before you act.

He'd take the long way then.

"I've got this!" He threw down a bunch of smoke bombs, made a few clones to distract Obito and darted into the trees behind him. He checked back to see if Obito was buying the ruse. The clones were Henging into random things, running around in circles and shooting off fireworks to distract him while another group snuck up on him again. Good enough.

Deeper in the forest, he darted off to his right, following the rough perimeter of the clearing as he looked for Sasuke and Sakura. He was also keeping an eye out for any Obito clone that may be trying to find him.

Actually...

He reached down into the raging fire of _that_ chakra. He pulled a small spark from it and it ignited, converting into a raging inferno of his chakra. He used it to make a series of clones to spread out through the forest and distract Obito. He was pretty sure the previous ruse was almost up.

He hopped as quickly as he could until he saw a flash of pink as he darted past. Huh, deja vu. Except this time, he wasn't being chased. Well, he didn't think he was. She was walking along the forest floor alone. He doubled back, landing next to her.

She turned to face him, startled.

He waved happily. "Hi, Sakura!" he exclaimed.

She didn't react immediately, which was weird. Did he have something on his face? Well, besides the blood and dirt and empty hole where his pride used to be?

"Uh, Sakura?" He tried again.

"Yes, I can hear you. Hi, Naruto," she responded. She sounded kind of sad. Well, she was all alone in the forest.

Something told him that wasn't the problem though.

"What happened to Sasuke?" If anything, that made her close down even more. Holy shit. "Did-did something, uh, is Sasuke, um," He swallowed hard in fear and denial.

Her head shot up. "No, nothing like that." _Whew, don't you die on me, bastard_ , he thought to himself. Alrighty then. "Just, he's not here."

"Did you guys get separated or something? Or you split up?" She hung her head again, but nodded at the second one. Man, she was trembling. Either she really missed him or Obito had put her through some hell.

"Well, you found me! So, where's the meetup spot? We've got a gameplan to make." And fast. Something told him that Obito was on his trail.

But, Sakura was just staring at him in wonder.

Which felt _awesome_. But, it kind of wasn't the time.

"Uh, Sakura?" That snapped her out of it again, though her eyes started to look a bit watery.

Fuck Obito. Seriously.

"Right, right, uhm," she turned, discretely rubbing her eyes in the process. Of course, Naruto was more perceptive than people gave him credit for. "I think it's this way, yeah."

She led him forward along the perimeter of the clearing, towards where the two of them had disappeared into the forest the first time.

There was no sign of Obito as of yet, which was good, but Sakura seemed off, which wasn't.

He didn't have much time to think on it, before they found Sasuke, who was jumping back in the opposite direction. He flew past them, before doubling back. Naruto shook his head. Sasuke pretended to be cool, but he was too hotheaded to just wait at the meetup spot.

Sasuke landed next to him.

"There you are, bastard," Naruto said to him, clapping him on the shoulder. "Obito seems to just be waiting in the clearing again." He wasn't sure exactly why he thought that, but he had a feeling the clone that had been following him didn't make it past his own clones. "What's the gameplan?"

Sasuke glanced past him to Sakura, then looked at him again. "Pretty much the usual. Clone it up, I'll pin him down with shuriken or a Goukakyuu or something. If you get an opening, grab the bells."

Naruto thought about it, "Nah, there's no way that's gonna work. He was styling on my clones for fun. Sakura, any med-nin, stealth jutsu up your sleeve, maybe we could keep his attention and then you can-"

Sasuke grunted something to cut him off, but he didn't catch it.

"Uh, what was that? Was that a 'she's not up for it' or a 'pick me instead, coach' or something? Relax, I was just asking if she had anything good."

Sakura was closing up again though, looking studiously away from Sasuke.

Naruto suddenly felt like he was missing something.

"There's only two bells, dobe," Sasuke said, looking at him seriously.

Huh, oh yeah. Apparently, this wasn't just a beat their sensei down until Naruto felt better exercise. On the other hand, he was pretty sure he was going to aim for that anyway.

He was also pretty sure what Sasuke was getting at.

"So, what? You're saying we leave her behind?" He asked, honestly more incredulous than anything else.

"It's the only thing we _can_ do," he responded tensely.

Sasuke was giving him the same look he had given him when his mom wouldn't let them train unless Naruto ate vegetables. Naruto didn't _like_ vegetables. Come _on_ , Naruto, he had said with frustration as the young blonde nibbled at his broccoli one tiny, leafy bud at a time.

That time, he had relented.

"What the fuck!? No! So-wait, wait," he said, "is this what you told _her_? Sorry, Sakura, but screw you, have fun at the academy? Stay out of our way because you might get a bell? Fuck no! Don't be a bastard, bastard!" He yelled, shoving the Uchiha back.

Sasuke growled, stepping forward.

"No, stop. It's okay," Sakura said, "I understand. If one of us has to go back to the academy," She shrugged, "it's going to be me. It should be me. I'm not going to split you two up. I-"

"Shut _up_ , Sakura," Naruto yelled at her.

Wait, what.

Even she seemed stunned. "I mean, uh, no. We're doing this together." He finished awkwardly.

"And, what, whoever gets the bells gets to decide what happens? I'm," Sasuke cursed under his breath, "I'm not letting you get left behind, idiot."

"Well, I'm not leaving _either_ of you behind, and Kami knows I'm not going back to the academy. Like they'd take me," Naruto replied, with a small smirk.

"But," Sakura interjected quietly, "there's still only two bells. One of us has to be left behind." She still looked sad.

And now, he got it. If he honestly had to pick, he probably would pick Sasuke, and Sasuke, despite their occasional animosity, would pick him. Family and all that. And, she knew it.

The thing was though, there was no way he was making that choice. And there wasn't a force in the world that could make him. Especially not their asshole of a sensei. A sensei, who, luckily, seemed more content to look at the clouds than for them.

He walked over to Sakura. "After we beat him up and _take_ those stupid bells, I'll personally slap another one out of him." He smiled at her. "You with me?" He asked.

Sakura looked back at him with such emotion in her teary eyes that he closed his own, laughing nervously. Something uncomfortable stirred inside him.

She didn't respond, but he heard her shift. He turned around to also look at Sasuke. He didn't look pleased about it, but he relented, grunting in defeat.

"Great, now apologize to Sakura and we can figure out how to actually do this thing." Naruto added, his eyes narrowed. Sasuke glared back at him but walked over to Sakura.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." He said.

"It's okay, I-thank you. I forgive you." She replied.

Eh, it was a work in progress. Naruto hopped over to them.

"Alright, that's teamwork! Live together, die together and all that. What can I say, I do good work!" He exclaimed, shoving them playfully. They shoved him back at the same time with more force than was strictly necessary, sending him crashing to the floor.

Sakura giggled. Sasuke smirked at his expense.

Beautiful. Bastard. Oh well.

He sat up.

"Sakura, I bet we can get you close enough to use your scalpel staff thing," Naruto said, "That is, if Sasu-chan will provide some cover."

Sasuke grunted.

Oh yeah, Obito was going down.

* * *

 _91313, 91314, 91315, 91316!_ Obito finished triumphantly. His potential genin were off plotting somewhere, so he decided to count all the leaves he could see instead of looking for them. It was so much more fun than being a "good" jonin-sensei. Hm, or was it fun _because_ it wasn't being a good jonin-sensei?

He shrugged. Oh well, he had thrown some stuff at them earlier, chased them around a bit. Surely, that counted? Besides, it wouldn't matter if they didn't get the bells soon. Time was running out.

Far more importantly, he was getting bored again.

 _Ah, there they are._

Waves of clones rushed from the trees directly ahead of him. There was a flicker of something, but then it disappeared again in the mass of clones.

Obito waited and waited and waited. A few split seconds later, however, and the clones were still practically ambling across the clearing. He sighed. _Kill me now._

Oh well, might as well try and have some fun anyway.

With the lightning-fast reflexes of a Jonin Uchiha, he unleashed a deadly barrage of kunai and shuriken at breakneck speeds. Clone after clone was destroyed with a surprised look on its face and an amusing _pop!_ of smoke. But, not all of his projectiles found their mark. From the trees, another barrage of weapons met his, weaving impossibly between the clones to deflect some of his projectiles. Some, not all. It compensated for maybe a third of them, but it was enough, giving the blondes enough time to meander their way towards Obito.

Those would have to be dispelled by taijutsu instead.

As the clones got close, a fuma shuriken tore its way across the clearing as a final distraction. He grinned in delight. A toy! He snatched it out the air lazily, hoping to use it to massacre his blonde student's clones and teach a valuable lesson about something or other. Unfortunately there was a wire attached to it, so he sent it flying back the way it came almost as soon as it touched his hand.

The trap sprung and the shuriken separated, its sharp blades shooting uselessly into the clones of Naruto. Oh well!

The clones were upon him now. He tore through them easily. Shuriken released up close slammed into their bodies or he dispatched them with kicks, throws and punches. It would be completely mind-numbing, but Sasuke—he was pretty sure it was Sasuke—was quite effective at weaving his own projectiles through the clones to hit his prospective sensei or, better yet, detach the bells from his waist.

Narutos slid in with low kicks from all sides as two waves of shuriken boxed him in on both sides from the front.

Hm. Apparently they wanted him in the air. He didn't _have_ to go in the air, mind you. But, it was always more impressive to escape just when all hope seemed lost.

He jumped into the air as a Naruto cannonballed towards him from the front. He nearly dispersed it with a kunai, but noticed the strips of paper attached to its body. Instead he planted his foot on its face, propelling himself up higher as explosions went off below him.

He smiled. It wasn't over quite yet.

Four clones shot towards his airborne form. He dispersed them, but through the chakra smoke another Naruto rose, staff swinging towards his vulnerable frame. Ah. He thought he had seen a flicker of different chakra. So they decided to work together after all.

Absently, he noted other Narutos rising, kunai in hand from below. A slight rush of air meant a kunai from Sasuke was heading towards him from behind as well. And here he was, out of position from his attack with no time to weave seals.

He'd take them! Their attack would certainly be enough to land a hit on an average jonin like Asuma—or a below average one like Kurenai!

Fortunately, he was neither.

He rose his hand to catch the staff—maybe it would be his toy instead! But, then, he watched as chakra built up inside of Sakura, stretched out, and curled, green energy coalescing around her staff. The Chakra Scalpel.

He almost laughed. Now, that was teamwork. Well done!

Oh, he had so many plans for them! But first...

The staff swung down onto his waiting hand...and through. The thrown kunai zipped through the bell string and the clones slashed through Obito. The bells didn't fall. The blows didn't connect. His body just phased through it. Then, he lashed out, kicking Sakura in her exposed side before eliminating the clones with some well placed shuriken.

Then he saw Sasuke. The Uchiha didn't know what hit him.

Obito landed gracefully on the ground.

Naruto, Sakura, and about a dozen clones stared at him with the familiar shock and confusion that followed his use of Kamui to escape the inescapable. Then, he spit Sasuke out of the alternate dimension on top of them.

"Congratulations! Excellent teamwork, everyone! You passed the test. You are all my genin now," He said, smiling brightly. "As such, it's time for your first lesson: how to take a beating! Pay attention! Ready, set, now!"

And then, he beat them up as he had beaten many before. Except, of course, he left them alive.

Well, they were conscious at least as he tied them to the tree stumps on the edge of the clearing. He smiled slightly as they groaned. Man, genin were weak. Or was he awesome? Or were they weak _because_ he was awesome?

He snorted. But, he had used that joke already. How depressing.

"Teamwork," he said, "is only one part of this test." Naruto groaned as Sasuke glanced up at him through bloodstained hair. Sakura just shook, whimpering quietly.

"Two of you could have worked together. That would be teamwork. But then I wouldn't have even needed to try," he continued, looking to Sasuke. The Uchiha looked away. "Sacrifice. That's the difference. Working together, despite the fact that not everyone will survive the process."

Naruto grunted angrily.

"You may not like it," he looked to Naruto, "but there will be missions where you lose people. Perhaps, a completed mission will soothe that pain, but it probably won't. Regardless, you have to be...ready for that sacrifice. It's the only way you'll have a chance at success."

They didn't respond, and Obito found himself lost in his own thoughts and memories. Perhaps, they were considering his words.

Or, perhaps, they had their own memories to ponder.

* * *

 _Then Itachi began to speak._

" _I promised I would teach you the source of my strength. This is the_ _Maelstrom Plateau. In every Great War since before the Clans Era, at least one battle was fought here. But, this is the story of the first..."_

 _Naruto and Sasuke stood transfixed, Itachi's words given an_ otherworldly vividness _, a clarity as if watching the events play out in real time._

 _He told them of the wars waged between two tribes who were bitter enemies. As they fought, they committed more and more resources to destroying each other and the devastation rose in scale each time they met._

 _One person, from one of the tribes saw that their ever-escalating hatred would eventually lead to both of their destruction. Thus, when he had the chance, he showed mercy to the other side in hopes of changing the course of the war. When his tribe found out, they killed him. Those he had spared, they said, had gone on to kill their comrades._

 _Others would go on to repeat this kindness on both sides, but their fates would be the same. Maybe they would be killed by the other tribe, maybe by their own. The vengeful wars carried on._

 _It seemed whatever kindness grew was met by hatred that arose from past wrongs. Each tribe devolved into civil wars in addition to the wars against each other._

 _Finally, on each side, those who wanted peace came together to support each other and together hoped to bring peace to both sides._

 _"They met, here, but they were not alone. Their respective tribes followed them, finding out about their plans for reconciliation. They arrived on these hills, each demanding that they stopped supporting the enemy, accusing them of betraying those lost to the other side."_

 _"Nothing said changed the minds of the others. And the great battle began between friends and enemies. In the end only two remained, both from the same tribe, though from which... It was said they were close friends once upon a time."_

 _They died, that day, together._

 _"This is the sad tragedy of our shinobi world. The story that plays itself out in different forms and to different extremes and with different names and, yet, the same message. A wealth of suffering. A failure of understanding._ A cycle of hatred. _Such is the horror of this world. And yet, I seek peace. A way to change this world for the better. And, the closer I get to that goal, the stronger I become."_

 _"For a time I had hoped to spare you these truths, but soon you too will be shinobi, enduring the nature of this world. Such tragedies will come again unless the world gives way to peace. But, how can it when this is the nature of our cursed world? ..._ I want to hear your answer. _Tell me: how will you confront this reality, in order to create peace?"_

 _Then, something shifted and the intensity of everything adjusted to a new normal. Sasuke hadn't realized how focused he had been._

 _But he had been focused. And Itachi's question burned clear in his mind. His answer seemed clear too._

 _Sasuke spoke first. "I guess being kind isn't enough. Being too nice just leaves you vulnerable. You need someone strong to really force everyone to be nice."_

 _Itachi was quiet. Then, he said, "One person trying to shape everything and everyone. There may be trouble there, little brother."_

 _Sasuke shrugged._

 _"And what about you, Naruto?"_

 _Naruto opened his mouth and then closed it. He hung his head. "I-I don't know."_

 _Itachi nodded, but he seemed disappointed. He looked back over the battlefield. "Perhaps, there is no answer," he whispered into the wind._

 _"No!" Naruto said so loudly he seemed to shock himself. "I mean, if there is a way to make peace, I'll find it! I won't let you down."_

 _Itachi smiled at that. "I know that you—neither of you—will let me down. In fact, I believe that you two will find your way towards a better future."_

 _There was brief moment of silence._

 _Then Itachi smiled. "Come, we have a tent to setup. Also, I think I may have packed these jutsu scrolls by mistake."_


	3. Missions: Part One

**Missions: Part One**

* * *

The compound was a four-story structure with each floor narrower than the one below it. The building blended in with the trees, camouflaged with greens and browns that would throw off most civilians.

Sasuke and Naruto landed amongst the trees.

"Yeah, that's it," Sasuke said, his Sharingan alight.

"Finally," Naruto grumbled quietly. The clone dispersed with a quiet _pop!_ Sasuke circled the compound in his absence taking note of the stationary, similarly camouflaged guards on each of the floors.

A few moments later the real Naruto and Sakura arrived, the latter guided by her own clone. Their objective was simple. Neutralize that compound.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun. "There's six on the first balcony, four on each of the levels above that."

"Top floor!" Naruto exclaimed, two clones appearing next to him as he darted into the upper canopy.

Sasuke shook his head. Idiot.

Sakura looked to him, and he could tell she was thinking the same thing about their blonde teammate.

"Together?" she asked. He nodded. Then they ascended until they were parallel with the third floor. They waited. From above they heard a grunt of exertion and a rush of air.

Then, they moved.

Sakura shot out from the trees, landing between two guards on the upper floor. They turned to look at her in surprise.

It was short lived as kunai thunked into them from Sasuke. He watched as Sakura sped through the remaining guards, sliding her staff across the backs of their necks as she darted past.

Naruto landed on the upper level, slowing his descent and pinning the guards on the roof with his incomplete _Wind Style: Pressure Break._

The two groups fell together and Sasuke unleashed another barrage of kunai. The guards below still hadn't noticed anything. More shuriken took out a couple as Sakura came for the rest.

Then he darted down out of the trees, rifling through his pack for exploding tags as he slapped them along the sides of the building. One full circle later, he darted back into the trees. Naruto and Sakura were waiting for him. All in all it had taken about fifteen seconds.

"Do it!" Naruto exclaimed, his hands in the same seal.

 _Boom!_

Exploding tags went off at every level, and the compound came tumbling down.

Mission accomplished.

Obito started to clap, appearing out of nowhere as he always did. "Good! Good! I mean, it's not how I would have done it exactly, but at least you only failed a little bit."

"Argh, what are you talking about? We nailed that one!" Naruto yelled.

"That's right, you did! Except, no one checked for tunnels, and the guards were able to tip off those inside to escape! But, still, a valiant effort. And, three hours? Tracker-nin you are not."

From behind them, similar, shadowy looking figures emerged from the trees, waved merrily and faded away.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.

"Ah well, you win some, you lose some." He paused, stroking his chin, "Well, you guys do seem to lose a lot."

Ever since Obito had accepted them as his genin, he had been training them. Every day they would run through some kind of mission simulation or other, often featuring a skilled, motivated opposition, a jovial Obito, and a lot of pain for Team 7.

This mission by comparison seemed relatively easy to accomplish. It was simply finding and destroying the compound and its "bandits."

It would have been easy too, but the target had been hidden expertly in the massive forests that made up Training Ground 21—a number of similarly looking decoys scattered throughout the training ground hadn't helped. In addition, the enemies were far more competent than expected. Apparently—allegedly—they were able to communicate to those inside when the team definitely hadn't given them enough time to do so, and some of the "bandits" had escaped.

On the bright side, Sasuke supposed, it had only been the mission. These simulations tended to be tense with the team always on the lookout for their sensei.

That was because, every now and then, Obito would interrupt everything with a bright smile and a shout of "Surprise Missing Nin!"

That wasn't fun.

The missions they did complete—taking down compounds, defending some central location, avoiding detection and so on—almost never went well and always ended with Obito breaking down the various and, occasionally obvious, mistakes they had made.

Like the squirrel.

Sasuke twitched at the thought. "How were we supposed to know there were tunnels? Let alone find them?" He asked, the annoyance leaking into his voice.

"You should always check for tunnels!" Obito said, holding his finger up as if to lecture them. "Or don't! I don't, you see, but then I'm good enough to not have to." He winked.

"But how," Sasuke repeated, "what jutsu?"

Obito just shrugged his shoulders, throwing his arms into the air with a look that said 'How should I know?'

That was the worst part of it for Sasuke. He wouldn't actually help them improve. He would just say that they didn't have enough A-Rank sensor jutsu or the ability to redirect lightning or tunnel-detection abilities. That meant Sasuke would have to comb through the Jutsu archives at home and at the Library to find something that might work.

And it would be just him too.

Naruto had enough on his hands trying to learn the wind jutsu that Itachi had planned to teach him—though he was nearly done there. Sakura could have helped him, but she spent most of her time working on more advanced medical ninjutsu, which was probably more important than catering to the imagination of their crazy sensei.

Still, he searched through various scrolls for useful jutsu and then divided his time between trying to find someone who knew the jutsu to copy from or learning it himself. Sometimes, he would skip the scrolls and just ask random clan ninja how they would do something or other.

Sometimes, Sasuke wondered why he bothered, especially when he wasn't sure if Obito was doing all this just to screw with them.

The older Uchiha seemed to get a perverse pleasure from watching them suffer in training or knowing Sasuke struggled to find answers for all the weaknesses he demonstrated.

But it didn't matter.

All that mattered was whether or not Obito knew what he was talking about.

So, he would feel skeptical, and he would grumble at his sensei's idiotic antics. Then, he would glean what he could from him anyway.

Because his sensei was an elite jonin, next in line to be Hokage. Because he wasn't arrogant enough to ignore that.

He couldn't afford to be.

If sacrificing his pride meant he had a chance to achieve his goals, he would do it in a heartbeat.

He had more than a couple random, useful jutsu up his sleeves already, and it had only been three weeks.

It wasn't the only thing he had been working on.

"Argh, I've had it!" Naruto yelled at Obito, "Enough with all these stupid simulations! We're ready for a real mission!"

Obito turned slowly to Naruto, his lecturing demeanor falling away as a look of confusion spread over his face. "A...real mission?" He said it like the very concept was new to him. Then he disappeared before they could respond.

Naruto slammed his head against a tree.

"Don't worry," Sakura said to him, "he'll give us a real mission soon."

Naruto just mumbled into the tree trunk. "You said that last week."

Sakura laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well, you have fun with that. Naruto, I'm going," Sasuke said.

Naruto gave a half grunt, half groan into the tree. Sakura turned to ask him something, probably where he was going in such a hurry, but he just Shushin'd away.

He reappeared on a street corner near the center of the village. He checked the time. It was a bit too early. About five minutes passed as he reviewed his plan in his head, his eye on the clock. Then, he started walking.

Eventually, he saw her: Ishikawa Mineko.

She was a fairly unremarkable chunin. She had enjoyed some early success, but a mixture of injuries and lack of improvement had caused her to retreat from the high-demand missions that took her outside of the village. Instead, she became a support member of the Leaf's infrastructure. Like the Hokage's secretaries, barrier squads, and researchers, she was among the many who helped make the village run smoothly but were often overlooked by the majority of the workforce. She happened to be a record-keeper.

She was also 15 years old.

Sasuke knew her previously. About a week ago, she had been walking down a street just like this, when some academy students who were playing ninja with blunted shuriken, lost control of the weapons. Mineko had frozen, unprepared for the sudden accident—and, Sasuke mused, probably couldn't tell the weapons were blunted.

She could have been hurt.

Instead, Sasuke had landed swiftly, catching the shuriken out of air, poking his fingers through the holes in their centers.

As they spun to a stop, he had asked, with the same calm voice he was known for, if she was alright. Then he had left the way he came, returning to the Uchiha-Senju compound.

Well, he had stopped to surreptitiously pay off the Academy students first.

As he walked closer, he paid her practically no attention, but he could feel her eyes on him, an odd sort of pressure that he was all too familiar with from all the fangirls he had accrued over the years.

Then he passed her. He could practically hear her deflate. Normally, that was where things would end.

"Hey. Don't I...know you?" He spoke even more slowly than normal. It tended to have a negative—er, positive?—effect on his fangirls.

She turned around, meeting his eyes with surprise. Unlike others, she didn't squeal, but there was a bright sort of tension in her eyes.

Odd. Sasuke wasn't quite sure if that was good or not.

"Yes! Yes, you, uh, saved me from those shuriken a week ago, Sasuke. I mean, it is Sasuke, right?" She said to him excitedly.

That was more normal. She knew his name without him telling her. That was pretty normal too.

"Hn. Right," he said, looking closely at her as if trying to remember. Then he nodded.

She spoke up quickly before he left, stepping closer. "I never got a chance to thank you! Thank you! Who knows what could have happened if you hadn't been there."

"I'm sure you would have been fine."

"No, I wouldn't have been. I'm a bit out of practice," She laughed in a self-deprecating manner, "but if there's anything I can do for you..."

Sasuke shook his head, but his eyes stayed on hers. Eye contact, very important, he recited mentally. "I don't think so. I was just heading to the library. Another day searching for obscure scrolls for my sensei." He looked off into the distance intensely. Or tried to anyway.

"Ooh, I can help with that. Yep! I'm an archivist, you see. Scrolls are my specialty!"

He turned his incredibly intense stare towards her. He hoped a breeze would come by to make his hair rustle in the wind or something. His raven-black hair, he corrected mentally. "I'd like that."

Two steps down, one to go.

* * *

Sakura glanced down through the eyepiece of the microscope. After a moment, she looked up, made a small mark in her notebook, and replaced the slide with the next one.

Sakura glanced down again, made another note, and replaced the slide again. Rinse and repeat.

She went through the motions swiftly and carefully, although some may have mistakenly called it robotically. Classifying the damage to the cells—neurons from a high level medical ninjutsu procedure—wasn't particularly difficult, but it was important. Being able to determine causes of damage was a crucial step in managing obscure jutsu, exotic poisons or different types of diseases.

She _was_ focused, but still...

Her mind was on other things.

"Ken?"

"Yes, Sakura-chan?" Her brother responded distractedly. His eyes were glued to his own microscope. She didn't think he was working on the same thing as her anymore though; his slides lay neatly stacked and catalogued to his right.

"Why don't we go to the Clan Ceremony?"

"We" meant their family. The Clan Ceremony happened every four years, but the four of them had never attended. It was a celebration between the Uchiha and Senju clans meant to reinforce and reaffirm the bonds between them.

Sakura's parents weren't ninja, but that really wasn't enough to explain anything. All Senju and Uchiha were invited, even some non-clan members attended.

"They're not ninja," Ken responded.

"So?"

Ken started writing in his notebook, recording his observations from whatever tests he was doing. Sakura waited as patiently as she could. He would answer her eventually.

"You should read some of Dad's books. He probably considers it a 'celebration of the violence and bloodshed of war.' I assume Mom feels the same way." He resumed writing in his notebook, glancing back through the microscope every now and then. Then, he said, "Pacifists don't go to war ceremonies."

That explained it, she supposed. But...

"Well, why don't you go? You're not a pacifist." At least, she didn't think he was. What sort of pacifist used the Chakra Scalpel like he did?

"Ah, but if I went, then I wouldn't be working," Ken said. He got up, moving into the adjacent room to get materials for the next steps of his experiments. He motioned for her to finish her cataloguing as he left.

Sakura blew the pink hair out of her face in exasperation but went back to work anyway. Ken was something of a workaholic. He left before her every day and, most days, would return after her as well. He was only a chunin, yes, but he had become one at around her age. If he trained the way he focused in the lab and the hospital, he would have been a Jonin by now for sure!

Ken came back with a rack of test tubes and culture plates. Then he was back at the microscope.

"Well, will you be able to help me with the next part of the Chakra Scalpel?" She asked, looking up again.

"Of course," he responded reassuringly. He glanced at her. "You finished the scroll? Explain it to me."

Sakura smiled. "Instead of using a weapon to help stabilize the spiritual energy, the long-range Chakra Scalpel requires enough control to extend the blade of spiritual energy through the air. Also, it requires enough control to extend the physical energy over the same distance and at the right time and location to make cuts inside the body." Ken nodded absently. "I've been working on the exercises." She added.

"Hm, what about an infected limb? Treatment protocol?"

She quickly rattled off the answer, covering different possibilities that she could run into instead of asking clarifying questions. It went faster that way. Then Ken asked her another question.

He always did this when she wanted his help with training. He considered her knowledge of medical ninjutsu more important than her combat skills. As such, the older Senju would always ask her random questions before helping her with training (during training too), but he would always make time to help her.

She had gotten questions wrong before when she was younger. The first time, she had been terrified that he would stop teaching her until she memorized every fact there was.

Instead, he had stopped working and quietly explained a few of the simple mnemonics he used to remember the answer. And, when they were done, he had trained her anyway.

Of course, she never got the questions wrong anymore.

That thought filled her with a quiet sort of pride that had her smiling at her brother's all too simple questions.

"So...?" She said when he stopped asking.

"Yes, yes, I'll tell you when I'm able to carve out some free time," he said. Then, he looked up at her. "It might be a while though, Sakura-chan."

That was a bit disappointing. But then, he was always pretty quick to help her even when he said it would be a long time. So, she shrugged and went back to her slides.

She couldn't help her mind from wandering though.

"Maybe, I'll go to the ceremony then," she said.

Ken looked up from his microscope, his eyes meeting hers suddenly. There was a flash of something indecipherable across his face, but then it was gone.

"That might not be a good idea," he said.

"What? Why not?" Her parents would support her, she was sure, even if they didn't like it themselves.

And the rest of the clan...her eyes darkened. "What, because Ryoshima-sama didn't _invite_ me?"

The Senju clan head was responsible for inviting all those _non-clan_ members that attended. And perhaps this was the real reason her family had never attended the ceremony.

Sakura wasn't welcome.

"No," Ken responded quickly, then he hesitated for a half-second as if considering it, before continuing, "No, that's not it."

"Then why?" She asked.

Ken looked like he was searching for the words. Then he thought better of it, running a hand through his sandy brown hair. "Nevermind. If you want to go, you should."

She pressed him some more for an answer, but she knew she wouldn't get an answer. Ken could be remarkably stubborn at times. He proceeded to ignore her, returning, ever intently, to his work.

Okay then? Well, maybe it really was nothing. "Okay, I guess I'll go then." She said tentatively, inviting him to speak up. Ken didn't respond, just continued analyzing the next experiment.

That was taken care of then, she supposed.

Sakura went back to cataloguing her slides.

Finally, when she was nearly done, Ken spoke again. "It's a war ceremony," he repeated slowly.

Sakura just nodded absently, her focus now elsewhere.

Yeah, it was. Whatever that meant.

Besides, Sasuke would be there.

* * *

"Slowly."

The red aura of power grew once more with a start, stretching out too quickly. The unstable chakra sloughed off the figure, dissipating into the room.

"Now that wasn't it at all, was it?" The Fourth Hokage said, a small smile on his face. "Do it _slowly_."

Naruto was cloaked in a translucent shroud of energy, two tails swinging behind him. He reached into the river of chakra flowing into him and pulled ever so slightly. The energy flooded forward. His shroud, a transparent reddish color, darkened slightly before he lost control. Excess chakra dissipated around him once more and the darker color receded.

He tried again with similar results.

"Alright, stop."

The cloak slowly faded. Naruto looked up at the Fourth. Sakumo seemed deep in thought.

"It seems the more chakra you draw, the less control you have over it."

"Yeah! It's like a little bit at a time is fine. But when there's a lot, it just all comes out, you know?"

"Yes, but that means there is an artificial limit on the amount of the Kyuubi's chakra you can manifest at one time." Sakumo said as he retreated to his desk in contemplation. "For jinchuriki of biju, limits like these come from the influence of the demon's consciousness. But yours is a matter of control. Control that can improve with practice."

Naruto nodded.

His mother didn't use the Kyuubi's chakra even when she was an active shinobi. But if she had, how much of it would she have been able to use before the Kyuubi's influence was...too much?

Not a happy thought.

Naruto's oldest memory was hardly even a memory. It was the feeling of the dark pressure of the Kyuubi's chakra slamming into him again and again, faster and faster, as its power transferred from his mother to him.

He had been only one-year old, still a baby. Still nursing.

"It's important that you learn to control more, Naruto-kun. As it stands, you're only using a little over half of the chakra that could potentially be available to you."

"Yeah. Right." Because that was another problem. All that chakra wasn't _available_ to him.

Somehow, the Hokage caught onto his sour mood. "Is something wrong, Naruto?" Sakumo asked.

"Yeah," he said, crossing his arms, "what's the point in learning this stuff when I'm not even allowed to use it?"

That was the rule that had hung over his head ever since he was young. Never use the Fox's chakra. Never. He wasn't even supposed to have it in the first place.

It had been ages until he had been allowed to use even small sparks of demonic energy to supplement his fighting. And that had come after months of poking, prodding, and testing.

Yet, here he was throwing around tails-worth of chakra, a feat that he would never be able to repeat outside of this room.

The room they were in was hidden beneath the Hokage Tower. Covered in seals, it was designed to mask any and all demonic chakra he might produce by absorbing it and converting it into nondescript energy. Apparently, it did even more than that and served as the Fourth Hokage's secret office.

Every now and then over the years, Sakumo would retrieve Naruto and bring him here. He would teach him how to utilize the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Well, if your sensei is to be believed, you could use the chakra control anyway," Sakumo said knowingly.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. Chakra control had always been one of his worst skills, but he _had_ dragged it up from 'truly abysmal' to just 'below average'. No need to remind him of it.

"But you're right. This is not something you should use, which is why you should never utilize more than we've discussed in even the most dire of circumstances."

That was what Naruto would call a 'handful.' The amount that could fill his reserves from empty and make nearly a hundred clones at the same time. It, unlike the spark, would be detectable by certain techniques and kekkai genkai and was a _last resort—_ something the Fourth had stressed endlessly. It was a level of chakra that maybe, possibly, could be explained away if necessary.

Wait, what about if it's a life and death situation and he really had to use more than that or else he'd die? A younger Naruto had once asked this question.

You die, was the Hokage's calm reply.

Which sucked. But, he sort of understood. Sort of. There was only supposed to be one jinchuriki in Konoha after all.

"I know it must seem unfair to you, but trust me, it's for the best."

Naruto shrugged, fiddling with the seals on the floor. He released a small flare of demonic chakra, feeling the warm energy flow past his fingertips. The seals activated, glowing then dimming as the energy left the blonde's hand.

"Naruto," Sakumo said seriously. Naruto glanced up at him. Despite his tone, he was smiling gently. "This is the first of our meetings since you became a genin. Congratulations, by the way."

Naruto grinned.

"But I have a question for you," Sakumo continued.

"What is it, old man?" He asked curiously.

He paused, then asked, "Do you still want to become Hokage?"

Naruto blinked, not understanding the question for a moment. Then, he said, "Uh, yeah? It's like you don't even know me!"

As far as Naruto was concerned, these sessions were secretly grooming him for the position.

He grinned mischievously.

Sakumo shook his head bemusedly. "I suppose that's not what I meant exactly...why do you want to become Hokage, Naruto-kun?"

What kind of question was that? Who wouldn't want to be Hokage?

"It's the best thing you can be! It's like ramen or world peace or something. Of course I want to do it."

Sakumo's eyebrow raised. Then he shook his head with a sigh. "It's the best thing ever," he repeated. "Naruto, don't you think you'll need a better reason, a more thought-out reason, to be _entrusted_ with the role of Hokage?" He asked with a look of significance.

Yeah, he didn't sound impressed. It was the sort of question and tone of voice that invited him to pause, think about his life goals, and start asking the big questions.

"Nope!" Naruto responded cheerfully.

Sakumo covered his face in exasperation. "You're kidding."

Naruto laughed. "Nah, I'll get so good, old man, you'll have to give it to me. And if you don't, well, I'll just get even better.

"Strength is admirable, but being Hokage tests you in many ways, Naruto. You need a deep motivation to survive its challenges."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't just mean getting strong. Whatever it takes, I'll do it, and I never give up," he said, "So throw whatever you've got at me, old man." Then he smiled. "And, when you're done, you can throw the hat over here too."

Sakumo gave a short laugh, then looked contemplative. "Well, it's certainly unusual-"

The seals around the door they had entered through lit up. Sakumo pressed his hand against the wall tensely. Then, he relaxed.

"That will be all for today, Naruto. Remember what we talked about."

Naruto nodded as the seals around the room receded. Sakumo took his seat at the desk and the door opened. Naruto walked out as Nara Shikaku entered.

The Nara watched Naruto as he left.

Then the door closed.

* * *

Shikaku stared at the door long after Naruto had gone. His hands were in his pockets but his gaze was dark.

He turned to Sakumo. "You're playing a dangerous game, Hokage-sama."

Sakumo nodded. "Perhaps."

"Then, why?" He said as his arms crossed. "You know what we have to do. It's what we should have done from the start."

"Let's not play out this old argument again, friend. This is the best solution. We've prepared for the different possibilities. And we're already reaching out."

"But the risk-" Shikaku began.

" _No._ " Sakumo said, his voice suddenly hard.

Shikaku pulled back, his hands slipping back into his pockets.

Sakumo sighed. "I won't tarnish it. Not yet. Not unless we must."

Shikaku grimaced and didn't respond.

"So unless you really do have a better plan-" Shikaku shifted and Sakumo continued, "-a _different_ , better plan?"

There was a long moment of silence.

Then Shikaku sighed wearily. "No."

Sakumo nodded, leaning back in his chair.

"But, Hokage-sama," Shikaku continued, "I've learned that things tend to go wrong in unexpected ways."

Sakumo smiled woefully. "Yes," he said, "That they do."

* * *

Naruto flew through the hand seals then brought his palms up together. A tight cone of wind rocketed from between them.

Well, it was supposed to be a tight cone of wind. In reality, the circumference was much too wide, the jutsu striking forward more as a buffet than a focused punch of power.

 _Wind Style: Pressure Break_ was just that. He gathered as much wind as he could into a tightly contained ball. Then, a small opening or excess of power released the energy. Somehow, it was supposed to come out as a "tight cone of wind," but Naruto hadn't figured that part out yet.

It would have to be enough.

The shuriken were knocked away as he backpedaled. Then there was Sasuke in front of him, rushing toward him. He lashed out with a kick, realizing too late his mistake.

His foot sailed through, the regular clone smiling evilly at him.

Five shadow clones burst into existence around Naruto as he landed, but another wave of shuriken impaled them almost as soon as they appeared. Only one clone remained and they split, the real Naruto going one way, jumping into the trees, and the clone another.

The two were literally identical. No one could tell them apart.

A kunai zoomed towards him from behind. He ducked, dropping from the branches, but the telltale sound of a wire snapping, made him groan. A wire trap snapped around his feet as he landed. His feet tied, he crashed into the earth.

 _You have got to be kidding me!_ He yelled internally. Not out loud, of course. No use giving his location away.

Bleh, who was he kidding? Exactly one person could tell him apart from his clones.

He cut himself loose, darting up and running away again. He looked over his shoulder for more projectiles. Nothing, but that didn't mean much.

As he turned back, Sasuke appeared from around a tree. _Fu-_

An elbow cracked him across the head, followed by a punch, knee, and then a brutal spinning kick to the head again. He crashed into a tree, slumping against it as Sasuke looked down at him, a kunai spinning on his finger.

It stopped in his hand with finality. "Submit," he said. "Don't make me knock you out again."

Naruto responded with a number of slurred obscenities. Sasuke said something in return.

Then, Sakura was next to him, a cool energy washing over his head. His level of consciousness improved dramatically as Sakura fretted over him.

"Don't act so smug," he said as his vision focused. "I nearly had you."

"Hardly."

Naruto growled, but it turned into a squawk of pain as Sakura pushed him down firmly. "Stop fidgeting!"

So he sat still, grumbling quietly until she was done.

Obito arrived just as she finished. "Mission time, everyone!"

Naruto stood, rolling his neck out. "Ugh, not another simulation!"

Sasuke and Sakura looked similarly nonplussed.

"What?" He asked with confusion. "No...didn't you hear me? I said mission time!"

And then Obito pulled out something Naruto thought he might never see: a mission scroll!

"Yes!" He cheered, jumping in the air. Then he rushed towards Obito, trying to yank the scroll out of his hands. Obito held it above his head, holding the blond back with one hand. He stopped trying to reach it and just bounced around the Uchiha excitedly. "So what is it? Rescuing a princess? Assassinating a crime lord?"

"Patience, my young, impressionable student," Obito said sagely. Then he, glanced down at the scroll in his hand and sighed. "Unfortunately, we're forced to start with the lowest ranked mission."

He spun the scroll around. A red "C" stared back at them.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly Obito was behind her and Sasuke, putting his arms around them as crocodile tears streamed down his cheeks. She let out a small noise of surprise instead. Sasuke tried and failed to shrug their sensei off.

"Don't worry," Obito said tearfully, "we'll get through this together."

* * *

AN: **This was originally going to be one chapter that covered the mission as well, but it was getting pretty long. The second half was taking far more time to write anyway, so I split it.**

 **But yeah, everyone's doing their thing, starting up their arcs and whatnot. I don't really know what to say here but wanted to say hi!**

 **Please let me know what you think! If you have any questions about the story, I'll make sure to answer them.**

 **And for those of you who have already left reviews, thank you very much!**


	4. Missions: Part Two

**Missions: Part Two**

* * *

"The mission is simple," Obito said as they exited the gate at the entrance to the village.

"But what is it?!" Naruto yelled.

How impatient.

It had been hours since he had shown them the mission scroll, but Obito had carefully avoided actually telling Team 7 what they were to do. Mostly, he would just repeat that it was "simple" or "easy" or would complain mightily about all the nonexistent time he had spent trying to convince the Hokage to give them something harder (that was why he was hours late of course!).

It wasn't necessary for the mission or anything. It wasn't even training—it was probably useful in some way or another though.

No, Obito just tried to enjoy what amusement he could find.

And frustrating his young students as he molded them into splendid ninja was just that.

Part of that molding involved skipping D-Rank missions to train them. D-Ranks were used to evaluate how a newly formed team would work together, but Obito decided he'd gotten what he'd needed from the Bell Test, and anything else he'd get from the aforementioned training.

They worked well together. Naruto and Sasuke assisted each other without hesitation, relying, no doubt, on their years living and training together. Sakura would slowly be incorporated as well, but until then she would alternate between being the deadly blade the other two ferried to their enemies and supporting or healing them as she used her intelligence to assess the problem.

It was exactly what he'd hoped for.

But...

Well, that was it. They were what he had expected from the Bell Test. Competent, but not surprising. There had been nothing new to match the surprise he'd felt at their deceptively effective tactics during that test. They had repeated similar strategies frequently, sure, but there had been nothing new!

He had pushed them far past what they could expect to face on missions in the near future. He had given them things they would succeed at, things they would fail at. Nothing exceptional had come of it.

Everything was becoming painfully routine.

Obito held up his finger to Naruto, wagging it back and forth to tell him to be patient. By now, it was more of a reminder that he could beat the Uzumaki into next week and would if he didn't listen.

Naruto crossed his arms in frustration and did his best imitation of a patient ninja. How cute. Obito reached out and ruffled his hair affectionately as his student growled in annoyance.

The scroll lay heavily in Obito's pocket.

His theory was that training would never be enough to pull greatness out of them. It would improve their skills. It would let him show them the great gap between where they were and where they were going. It would help him build them up, but it would never be enough on its own.

For that...

It was time for them to experience the world. And that meant missions. His finger traced the edge of the scroll.

 _Obito! We have to go!_

His smile faltered.

He removed the scroll from his pocket and sighed.

It was necessary.

"Like I said, the mission is simple," he said to them, "All you have to do is retrieve-" he activated Kamui, traveling to the other dimension and then exiting in the bandit compound. With a little genjutsu, he traveled undetected to their trophy room, bypassing the guards and retrieving the Sun Stone. He returned to the genin, holding the pure white, gently shining sphere up for their inspection. It took about fifteen seconds. "-this stone stolen by bandits operating in the northern part of the land of fire. Patrol Team Bird has isolated their location. You'll nab the stone," he waved it around for emphasis, a small smile working its way back onto his face, "and deliver it to the client in the town of Hinode. It's very important to them."

All in all, it was a pretty standard C-Rank mission.

He nodded. Yep, just a standard mission briefing for a standard mission. Get ready to complete it!

His genin gaped at him as he waved the target in front of them.

"You mean," Sakura said slowly, "we're supposed to get that stone and give it to the client...that stone?" She raised a finger to point at the stone.

Sasuke shook his head in exasperation.

"Yep!" Obito said brightly.

Sakura faltered.

"Well, why the fuck don't we give it to them now?" Naruto yelled at him.

Because if he went around doing every mission he _could_ do, there wouldn't be any for everyone else! "What? Oh no," Obito said as if there had been some terrible mistake, "You guys have to go get it first. Don't worry, it's in their trophy room!"

"It's in your hand!"

Not for long.

He reappeared in front of them again in an instant. "Not anymore!"

His team glared, sighed, and yelled in frustration.

Obito took it in stride. "And we're off!"

* * *

All in all, the mission had been pretty simple.

They had traveled north, following Obito's lead until they reached the bandits' headquarters. It hadn't been much, just a series of shacks strewn together in a tight circle.

The trophy room had been in the largest of the shacks, located in the center. There weren't any requirements for how to get the stone, so they did what came naturally to them.

Naruto made a swarm of clones and the three of them stormed the trophy room. The clones served as human shields, yes, but Naruto specialized in coordinating them for maximum effect. As they trained together, that coordination had expanded to include his teammates. Over the weeks, Sasuke and Sakura had become more comfortable fighting in the swarm, taking advantage of his patterns of movement and the disposable nature of his clones. They had even started using the communication effect of the Shadow Clone to their advantage.

Obito really should have told him about that way sooner by the way.

Not that they needed it for the fight. The bandits had tried to fight back, but it wasn't nearly enough. They had grabbed the stone and left them behind, defeated.

It had been surprisingly easy all things considered and felt very familiar to the training they'd been doing. Not that Naruto would ever give their sensei the satisfaction of actually saying so out loud.

But, maybe, _possibly_ , the simulations were kind of useful.

Maybe.

Despite the similarity, the mission wasn't exactly the same as a training simulation.

Naruto wiped the blood from his kunai, sheathing it quietly as he rejoined his team. Sasuke had the stone in his hand. It looked exactly the same as when Obito had shown it to them, glowing gently through his fingers. Sasuke put it into a dark satchel, which he slung over his shoulder.

His stepbrother smirked and then nodded to Naruto as he joined them. Naruto grinned back.

For all the fighting he did with Sasuke over the years—and it was _a lot_ —nothing was quite as fun as fighting alongside him.

And he was pretty sure that bandit thought they made a pretty kickass team.

The sun had just begun to set over the horizon and dusk was fast approaching. They still had to deliver the stone to the client in a nearby town, and then they would head back to Konoha.

"Good work," Obito said before they left.

Naruto waited for the "but" or "however." When none came, he took the bait. "Good work?"

"Yep."

"That's it? No, 'I would have done better?'"

"Or that we should have frozen them with ice jutsu?" Sasuke added sardonically.

"Or checked for tunnels?" Sakura continued.

"Or snuck in instead of fighting? Or-" Naruto said.

"Nope! That was good. Efficient, quick, violent. In my opinion, your sensei deserves all sorts of praise." There it was. "But so do you guys. Just a little bit though." He winked. "Keep it up."

Huh. Well, yeah, damn straight! They were pretty awesome, weren't they? And maybe he was only saying it because it was their first mission or something, but it was about time Obito started recognizing just how awesome they were!

Then, they made their way towards Hinode.

* * *

They reached their destination, the ground sloping down into the town of Hinode. The town rested in the center of a shallow basin surrounded by the dark forests of the Land of Fire. Despite that, the town itself was bright and lively. There were paper lanterns, cheering, games, costumes, and music playing throughout.

Team 7 watched from the shadows of the trees as the sounds of mirth filtered up to them.

It seemed to be some sort of festival. It looked like fun.

"There," Obito said.

Naruto followed his gave to a Shinto-style temple near the center of the town.

They followed the path down to it. As they maneuvered their way through the crowds, children ran past them with sparklers in their hands. Rich and hearty laughter poured out from inside the houses. There were games too, people lining up to try their hand at ring tosses, fishing with dissolving rice paper, cup shuffling games, and more. There were light-hearted groans of frustration, laughter, and cheers as each person tried their hands at the tasks.

Naruto almost veered off towards the games when he felt a sharp poke in his side. He rubbed it absentmindedly as he turned to Sakura.

"The mission, Naruto," she said quietly.

Right, right. He knew that.

He turned away, smiling to Sakura as he followed after her towards the temple.

As they approached, Naruto made out the different engravings that covered the outer walls and gates of the temple. It showed hordes of people gathering towards the top of a hill. Upon the hill rested an altar or a throne or a person depending on where he looked. And held above each of them was a bright sphere that shined over the onlookers.

Not exactly subtle, but at least it looked nice.

They walked through a gate, passing under the arch at the front of the temple. At the end of the path, Obito knocked rhythmically on the great wooden doors.

Eventually, the doors opened. A monk dressed in red, traditional garb opened the door. He bowed. "You are from Konoha?"

Obito tapped his headband. "Yep, special delivery for Hirosaki of the Sunrise Temple."

"Excellent. Follow me."

The monk led them inside and up the stairs. They followed a hallway to big stone doors that the monk opened swiftly. Inside was a large antechamber with an empty pedestal sitting in the center. The walls, floor and ceiling were painted with intricate, lightly-colored symbols. Before the pedestal was another monk, similarly dressed.

He turned to them, his eyes lighting up instantly.

"Thank you, Takeshi," the monks bowed to each other and the one who had guided them in left. Then, he turned to them. "Welcome!" Hirosaki said, walking forward.

His eyes glanced down to the satchel, and Sasuke removed the stone. As he lifted it out, its light relfected off the artwork and it too began to glow with a gentle light. Sasuke passed it over to Obito who handed it to the monk.

"Thank you," he said with incredible sincerity as he carefully cradled the glowing stone. He bowed deeply to them before carefully placing the stone on the pedestal. The room was bathed in its ethereal glow, all of the symbols within fluorescing gently. "The Sun Stone has been returned to its home. Thank you, shinobi of Konoha. Please, if there is anything we can do to accommodate you during your stay, we would be only to happy to assist."

"Nah," Obito said, "we're on our way back to the village"

"At least enjoy our town's festival!" He insisted. "We will even provide you with accommodations for the night if you wish."

Obito seemed to actually be mulling it over. He shrugged. "Eh, okay! Sounds like fun."

"Excellent, I will make the arrangements. Please," He extended a hand and led them from the antechamber. Once out, he carefully closed the door behind them. Then, he bowed and handed them off to yet another monk, who set up which hotel they would be staying at.

Obito turned to them. "We'll stay the night. Go out, have fun. We'll rendezvous at the hotel."

"What?" Sasuke spit out incredulously. "Just like that, we're kids playing at a festival?"

Obito looked properly horrified. "No! You're cute little soldiers playing at a festival!" He shrugged, dropping his previous expression. "Or not. Doesn't matter to me. Stay out of trouble!" He shouted as he started to disappear then added, "Or, well, you know!"

Then it was just the three of them.

Naruto gave a small cheer. "Awesome! Let's go!"

Then Sasuke shot him a look, and Naruto realized he was serious about not hanging out. It was one of those days. Whatever.

Sakura smiled at him though. "It did look like fun. And it'd be nice to hang out again."

"You can say that again!" Naruto started to leave. Sakura followed after him.

Sasuke stayed put.

Sakura turned back. "Sasuke, aren't you coming?"

"No."

Sakura looked taken aback, a range of emotions speeding across her face. "Oh, but-"

Sasuke disappeared, leaving only a rush of wind and leaves behind.

"...Right," Sakura said to the empty air.

* * *

Naruto and Sakura wandered through the town, letting themselves move with the crowds of people as they passed stalls with different games, food, and the occasional interesting landmark.

"So what do you wanna play first? Or, maybe we should get something to eat!" Naruto said energetically. First, they had finished the mission in awesome style and now he was on a date with Sakura!

Basically anyway. He couldn't say it out loud because she would poke him in the ribs. It hurt when she did that! And he was starting to suspect she laced them with her Chakra Scalpel.

"Whatever you want," Sakura said distractedly.

"Right, right," Naruto said, "I should probably pick anyway." He started looking around at the different shops, stands, and restaurants as they turned down the next street. He wasn't hungry, but maybe they had their own ramen stand here! He could always go for ramen.

He didn't see any ramen, just lots of people enjoying themselves.

They'd be joining them shortly!

"What do you mean you should pick?" Sakura was saying, her head cocked to the side.

"Oh, the guy picks where to go for-" he stopped, flinching as he moved to cover his ribs. He nearly bumped into a passerby who just gave him an amused look and carried on.

"It's not a date, Naruto-kun," she said wearily. She walked past him, as the crowd moved toward a fountain that shined gently in the night. The lights illuminating the stones weren't well hidden enough to fool the senses of the genin ninja.

Naruto followed after her.

"Right, right. Definitely! I mean you're the only one to mention a date, Sakura-chan. I hadn't even thought of it, nope, not once, but now that you bring it up, well, it's in my head and, hey, you never know, right? And, well, if you were to fall in love with me halfway through the festival, I would just have to deal with that as best I could," He smiled, nodding almost as quickly as he'd been talking,

Sakura just sighed. "Do you want me to poke you with this?" She said impatiently, holding up a glowing green finger as they came to stop near the fountain.

"Eep!" He covered himself up, shrinking away from her. Sakura smiled a bit at that, which was great.

"Good," she said. Then, she let the jutsu drop and stared down at the sparkling water, returning inevitably to her thoughts.

"So...whatcha thinking about?" He asked.

Sakura glanced up at him suddenly. "Oh, nothing." She walked away from the fountain, towards the stands with games.

He caught up with her, his hands behind his head. "Nah, you're waaay to smart to think about nothing, Sakura-chan," he said.

She smiled at him again. Yes. "Just...mission stuff."

"Right, right, totally," Naruto said as they reached the game stalls. People were fishing with rice paper in front of them. "Want to play?"

She shook her head.

Okay then.

They moved on.

"It was an okay mission, I guess," Naruto said instead. "Although I was hoping a C-Rank mission would be harder. Or, like, more interesting or something."

"C-Rank missions lack enemy ninja involvement. It's part of the reason we're still in the Land of Fire. It's not like any of the other Four Great Shinobi villages are going to attack us inside our own borders."

"Uh, how come?"

Sakura turned to him incredulously, getting ready to go on a rant about some complicated thing. "What? Because," then as if remembering she was sad, she gave a big sigh and said, "Just, that's not how it works."

"Oh cool. See? Told you you were smart, Sakura-chan." He picked up a ring from the ring toss game. "How's your shuriken jutsu?" He asked with a smile.

Sakura didn't respond, just shrugging. That was a no then. He dropped the ring back down (to the vendor's disappointment) and started looking around again.

Maybe games weren't her thing? Were there going to be fireworks or a ceremony or something? He'd have to find out.

Sakura sighed. "I'm sorry."

Naruto attention snapped back to her. His eyebrows crinkled in confusion. "What?"

"I'm sorry. You're trying to make this festival fun and all I'm doing is sulking."

Ah right. She did seem pretty down.

And had he been trying to avoid it in the hopes it would go away? Maybe.

"Ah, don't worry about it," he said, "I know all about sulking! Just look at Sasuke!"

"I do! Everyday! I look at him and-" She cut herself off, catching herself as she lost control.

Naruto's eyes had widened in surprise. Sakura turned away, embarrassed.

Naruto looked down as they came to a stop. Right. This was about Sasuke.

Again.

And, believe it or not, that wasn't exactly what he wanted the topic of their date to be.

He didn't know what to say.

Sakura looked back up at him. "Does he...even like me?"

"Ah, don't worry about Sasuke," Really. Stop thinking about him. "He just likes to brood sometimes. It doesn't mean we're not friends. Same with you."

"Really? I wonder sometimes. Remember the bell test? And since then it seems like he just can't wait to get away." The three of them hadn't walked home together since graduation.

Naruto fidgeted. Sasuke left training quickly to go do unspeakable things to some girl for information about Itachi. It was a sort of a secret.

In addition to that, he just wasn't really a happy guy. He didn't want to be. That was fine with Naruto, and most things still seemed pretty in line with the Sasuke he knew.

Sometimes he just got more pissy than usual. It would pass. He was probably just stressed out about all the lovemaking or something.

"Nah, I'm sure. He just gets like this sometimes. You think I call him a bastard for nothing?" Seriously. Also because he was smug and arrogant and an asshole and-

Sakura shrugged minutely.

Eh, he'd take what he could get.

"So then, do you know if...does he, you know," Sakura looked into his eyes, "...like me?"

Her eyes were bright with hope and fear. Something uncomfortable stirred inside of Naruto.

She looked so...breakable.

Suddenly, he felt the weight of his response in the pit of his stomach.

He didn't like to think about it, but he knew deep down about Sakura's feelings. It was the type of thing that would have served as yet another easy excuse to pick a fight with Sasuke when they were younger.

Even now, a bubble of resentment seeped through. What made him so special?

But Naruto knew what made Sasuke special. Heir to the Uchiha clan, rookie of the year, a cooler-than-thou attitude, and an intensity that surrounded and informed everything he did.

Not to mention the Uchiha liked to show off every now and then—often while saving or showing up Naruto himself—which was pretty useful for impressing the girls in their class.

To put it simply, Sasuke was awesome.

Naruto knew that.

Part of the reason they fought so much when they were younger was because Sasuke always seemed so awesome and Naruto had wanted to prove himself. He wanted the Uchiha to acknowledge him as an awesome ninja-to-be as well.

Honestly, he just wanted Sasuke to acknowledge him at all. And, eventually, he had.

Then, for a time, their odd little family had worked out.

Now, Sakura wanted Sasuke to acknowledge her as well instead of disappearing in a shroud of mystery.

But, if he didn't, Sakura wouldn't—or perhaps couldn't—fight for that acknowledgment. Naruto wasn't even sure what that would look like.

No, instead she would be crushed, rejected by too many people with good reasons to love her.

The waves of people parted around them as Sakura waited anxiously for him to respond. He paid them no mind.

Sakura's hopes were pinned on Sasuke, but Naruto knew too well what it looked like when that hope was stripped away. He resisted the urge the scowl.

Naruto could say that Sasuke maybe, possibly had the same feelings for Sakura way deep down, but...that just wasn't true. At least, he didn't think it was.

She was Sasuke's friend and that's probably all she would ever be.

But, he thought as he looked into her eyes, he wasn't going to tell her that!

"Ah, I don't know," he hedged.

"You're his best friend though, right?" Undeniably. "You must have some idea?" There was desperation in her voice.

"I, uh, think you should talk to him," Naruto tried instead. It was probably good advice. Yeah, that worked.

Sakura pulled back suddenly. "Oh," she said despondently, "right." She clearly expected the worst, even though that was exactly what he didn't what to have happen.

So Naruto sighed, adding despite himself, "But...if anyone has a chance to thaw that bastard's heart," His eyes met hers. "It's you, Sakura-chan."

Her green eyes widened in surprise, and he gave her a reassuring half-smile. Sakura's face broke into a huge smile of her own and she crashed into him, wrapping her arms around him for a hug. He hugged her back.

And sighed.

He wasn't sure if it was because what he'd said was a lie or because it was true.

"But, you know, you'll probably change your mind any moment now anyway so..." He said halfheartedly.

Sakura pulled back with understanding in her eyes. "You never know," she said.

There was a moment of awkward silence between them. A chorus of laughter echoed out from a nearby house.

"So, uh," Sakura said, "games?"

Naruto gave her a small smile. "Definitely."

* * *

The younger Uchiha wandered along the outskirts of the forests that surrounded the town. The older watched him silently from the trees.

"That's the last of them." A shadowy figure ground out, "Move in."

* * *

"Yatta!"

Sakura reached out to claim her prize as Naruto's face fell. An oversized rainbow colored lollipop was handed over, and she unwrapped it gleefully.

"Best 6 out of 11?" Naruto offered pitiably. Sakura patted him on the head.

"You know, they say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Naruto pouted. She licked her lollipop. "But thanks for all the stuffed animals, Naruto." There was a pile of prizes growing behind the young Senju. Sakura bowed stiffly, hiding her smile beneath her bangs.

"You can be really mean sometimes, you know that, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura laughed, the stress of their previous conversation long gone.

Well mostly. She still had to actually talk to Sasuke and if that didn't make her nervous...

But now she was playing games with Naruto, being a little silly, and enjoying herself.

Her friend shot back up, "But I never give up! And I'm totally going to beat you!"

A few moments passed.

"Damn it! 7 out of 13?"

Sakura laughed at the blond again as a stuffed toy was handed to her. "I think I'm going to stop now. Otherwise I won't have enough sealing scrolls to take everything back."

Naruto grumbled all sorts of terrible things to himself.

"I'll play you."

Sakura glanced past Naruto.

A young boy had plopped down onto the stool next to him, licking an identical lollipop to the one she had won. He was younger than her, maybe ten or eleven, with messy brown hair. His bright blue eyes stared up at them. "I'm pretty good."

He was so cute!

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Uh, sorry, but what would it look like if I beat some random kid?"

"I dunno," the boy said agreeably, his mouth half full of his candy. "I'll tell you when I win."

Naruto twitched beside her. "Why you little-Alright, you're on!"

Did she mention how cute he was?

A few moments passed.

"Damn it! 2 out of 3?"

"Sure, I'm Takeru by the way," he said.

"Uzumaki Naruto at your service, and you're going down, kid!"

Finally, "Yes! Dattebayo!"

* * *

The dark figure darted from the adjacent building into the Temple's window. He landed on the wall inside the darkened room, sticking to it expertly. Once more in the shadows, he froze. The soft snores of the monks filled the room. Slowly, he dismounted the wall conscious of the many people littering the floors.

He tiptoed towards the target, gently cracking the door and slipping out silently into the darkened hallway.

He raced through the hallway until he reached the entrance to the antechamber. The stone doors were locked, but it was trivial for him to undo. The lock clicked open suddenly, the sound reverberating through the hallway. He glanced back around tensely, waiting to hear the quiet sounds of roused guards.

There was no one else around.

He slowly opened the door. The light of the stone began to filter gently out into the hallway.

"Whoa, nice stealth skills!"

The shadowed ninja spun around, flying through handseals. A stream of purple water shot out at high pressure, tearing through the speaker and into the walls of the hallway.

But something was wrong.

"Yep, it's gonna be really hard for anyone to catch you," the person said.

His jutsu sailed through the person, cutting into the opposite wall with no effect on him. The ninja recognized him as the older Uchiha from the Konoha team. He kept his eyes away from the Uchiha's as the stream twisted up to puncture the Sharingan-wielder's head.

The Uchiha cocked his head to the side, "Yeah, that's just not gonna work."

The shadowed ninja threw a reel of exploding tags at him and dove into the antechamber, slamming the stone doors shut and sealing them shut with an earth jutsu. The explosion cracked through the hallways, no doubt blasting though the wall to the outside. He could hear the shouts and screams of the civilians. There went the secrecy of the mission.

But there it was. He rushed forward, making a desperate grab for the Moon Stone. But, just as his hand was about to touch it, it disappeared.

The ninja spun around, and there was the Uchiha again, standing bemusedly inside the antechamber. But how?

Genjutsu?

No, he had been careful. Then, with gnawing terror, a different possibility filtered into his mind.

No! He was a jonin! He wouldn't fail here!

His Earth Clone appeared behind the Uchiha, separating from the stone doors it had sealed and wrapped its arms around him. It would absorb his chakra and maybe dispel whatever strange jutsu he was using to avoid his attacks.

"Cozy," the Uchiha said. The arms started to slip through his body.

Worthless! He made a handseal. The clone exploded, flames and shrapnel engulfing the Uchiha.

He didn't have the stone, but it was gone. He had to retre-

As he moved away, something pulled against his leg, holding him back. He struggled forward and looked down, hardly comprehending what he was seeing. His leg was disappearing, spiraling away into nothingness.

He couldn't get free.

Then, with an awful lurch, it separated.

He crashed to the ground, clutching the bleeding stump of his leg. He yelled in pain, sliding away from his attacker as best as he could, desperately trying to escape.

The Uchiha loomed over him. Finally, the ninja looked up at his face, the fear of genjutsu forgotten, and confirmed his worst fears. Red eyes glowed down at him.

"You're-You're," he stuttered out.

"Awesome, I know, I know," Uchiha Obito said to him. "Seriously, it's not even fair anymore,"

"The Ghost of the Leaf. S-Rank threat, unconfirmed," he hissed out between clenched teeth. The pain was unbearable.

And the ninja knew he was defeated. The Bingo Book of his village recommended extreme caution and multiple jonin level ninja to stand even a chance at defeating Uchiha Obito. He was the Leaf's most dangerous jonin and had cut a bloody swath through the heart of Konoha's greatest enemy.

There was an astronomical bounty on his head, and for good reason.

He had no choice then.

To protect the village.

"Unconfirmed!?" the Uchiha said incredulously, "What's a guy gotta do to get a 'flee on sight' order around here?" Obito shook his head. "Well, let's see who you are and why you're doing this."

"No! I can't! I won't!" Then, he made _that_ handseal, glaring up into the eyes of the Uchiha. The last thing he would ever see.

The seal lit. Obito sighed. "Is that what I think it is?"

* * *

Naruto and Takeru played multiple games together and they were very evenly matched. Both would win, Naruto cheering and Takeru smiling slyly into his rainbow colored lollipop, and lose in almost equal measure after often extremely close games. Just when it looked like one would pull away, there would be some comeback or mistake that kept it competitive.

After the first game they had moved on to another and another.

"You're going down!"

"I am up," Takeru agreed. By Sakura's count he had won two more games than her blonde friend.

Naruto growled. "I don't like you." But then he laughed and they started playing. Naruto would probably need to slow down if he didn't want to burn through all of his money.

Not that he seemed to know or care. He could get pretty carried away.

In between games, Sakura had learned that Takeru had lived in the town for a few years, and that he was a _very_ impressive ten-years old. Double digits were certainly a big deal, she had agreed.

Takeru won the game by a razor thin margin.

Then the temple exploded.

People started to scream, the vibrant energy shattering in slow motion. Sakura met Naruto's eyes frantically as Takeru stared up at the smoking building with wide eyes.

A rush of people pushed past them as everyone got as far away from the explosion as possible.

"Let's go," Naruto yelled.

She turned to the scared Takeru, "Get somewhere safe, okay, Takeru-chan?" She didn't give him time to respond, just rushing forward.

Then, something lashed around her feet and she crashed to the floor with a grunt. Naruto turned back in surprise as a kunai flew past him and caltrops _poofed!_ into existence, covering the ground in front of him.

"Takeru, what are you...you're a ninja." It wasn't a question, the young boy they had enjoyed playing with had slipped into a combat stance. Sakura had been tripped by a spool of ninja wire wrapped around her ankles.

"But," Naruto continued incredulously, "you're only a kid!"

"I'm ten!" He repeated, a huge pout on his face as he dropped his stance to cross his arms petulantly. Sakura and Naruto shared glances with each other. Sakura started to undo her restraints.

"Stop it," he said. "I have to keep you here!" He drew another kunai.

"No chance, kid."

Takeru rushed him.

The boy was quick enough, but much too weak. Naruto easily deflected his slash with a kunai of his own, overpowering him with each blow before kicking him back towards the stands. Clones appeared next to Naruto and they jumped forward together, dog-piling on the smaller boy. They quickly tied him up.

Sakura rose to her feet, dusting herself off as she moved to join Naruto.

"You're a ninja?" She asked. She could hardly believe it, and it wasn't like he was wearing a headband. "What village are you from?

"I won't tell you." He responded stubbornly.

"Then what's going on? Are you trying to steal the stone?"

"Maybe," he said, then pouted when he realized he had probably given too much away. "What's the big deal? Moon steals from Sun, Sun steals from Moon. It doesn't matter that much, right? Everyone gets money! Now, let me go!" He wiggled back and forth, trying to escape.

Naruto and Sakura exchanged another look. "No," Sakura said. "Not until we get a handle on everything. We should find Sasuke and Obito-sensei, Naruto."

"No, you should let me out. Let me out right now," he yelled childishly. "You better-" He paused abruptly. "I-ow!-what-"

Then the screaming started in full. Seals lit along Takeru's body before darkening and spreading into black bands that wrapped snake-like over his pale skin and clothes. At the edges, the fabric split, then the skin beneath it split, slicing open as it discolored grotesquely. It sizzled, darkening in color through yellow, green, then to black.

Blood spurt out, but it suddenly slowed, arcing around and back into the screaming boy with the messy brown hair. It too turned a sickly black color as it spread like acid through his body, burning him away.

"It hurts!" He screamed, struggling, tied up and crying as he tried to do something, anything to stop the pain.

Sakura moved half forward, her hands raising to do something, but she didn't know what. The black bands tightened, slicing deeper into his skin as the boy's bones snapped and the black acid sprinkled painfully at her feet.

Takeru's wide, scared blue eyes stared up at them. "Please!" He gurgled to them in pain. The acrid smell of burning flesh hit them full on. Then, the bands expanded, the black seals covering him entirely, and then constricted, crushing the once vibrant boy completely.

A black pool of sizzling liquid fell where he once was.

* * *

Sasuke looked down at the dark stains that had once been enemy ninja.

He flicked his sword clean and sheathed it.

How gruesome.

* * *

They had regrouped in the hotel room, his students debriefing him about the apparent Genin that had accompanied his sneaky Jonin. Apparently one of the genin had mentioned Moon wanting the stone.

Obito had pressured the monks until they had revealed, yes, there existed a counterpart to them that were also interested in the stone. Yes, the true home and name of the stone was somewhat contested, but, no, they hadn't known that their counterparts had hired ninja or from what village they would be from, but, yes, they could have maybe suspected as much.

"Take this as a lesson, kiddies," Obito said once he'd finished relaying as the details to them, "Don't trust the client." They didn't respond. "Or be good enough not to, of course! And boom, you guys totally were!"

There was still no response from the team. Naruto just shook his head as if trying to dispel him. Sasuke remained intensely stoic beside him, and Sakura was crying soft tears, sitting with her arms around her legs near the bed.

Ah. Right.

The silence filled the room, broken only by the occasional quiet tears from his pink-haired student.

They stayed like that for a long time.

"Why?" Sakura finally asked. "Why did they have to die like that?"

Obito regarded Sakura carefully. "If they left their bodies behind, we would have been able to identify their village, perhaps even some of their unique jutsu." He gestured in the general direction of the temple, where the remains of the Jonin lay. "When he realized they weren't going to succeed, he gave his village a chance to instead." Because, if Konoha found out which village had the audacity to attack them, they would have had to teach them the error of their ways.

"But," she said with anguish, her eyes still teary as she glanced in the direction of the street, where the remains of a different ninja lay, "why?" She looked up at him and he understood.

Why like that, why such brutality, why such costs?

What was this thing for which children were sacrificed?

Naruto looked similarly disturbed and confused, staring off into space as he undoubtedly replayed the gruesome moment over and over again in his head. Sasuke looked troubled, but far less so. Mostly, he just looked grim. Perhaps he was more able to see the horror for what it was.

Ah, but this barely scratched the surface on the horrors of this world.

"Ah, that," Obito said. He leaned back against the wall in contemplation. "I suppose there is no reason," Obito said to them. Sakura's eyes widened in horror. "Or better yet, there is any reason. There are no limits, no rules, and no end to the senseless brutality of this shinobi world."

All three of them were watching him now. He looked off into the distance.

"It is tragedy. We endure, and that's...that." He closed his eyes.

 _Obito! We have to go!_

His team remained silent and he felt himself weighed down by his own grief once more. He sighed.

He should be more positive.

He looked to his team. They looked back with a mixture of surprise and sympathy. "It's up to us to fix things where we can, how we can," he said comfortingly. Then, after a long pause, he added, "And maybe, just maybe, there is something that will alleviate our troubles. So, the question is, my cute little students, whether or not you know what it is. And, whether or not you will choose to believe in it once you do."

* * *

Far away from the Temple of Hinode, swift, nimble fingers recorded all that he had by chance observed of the brief confrontation. Ideas, evidence, and theories spun across the page, all centered on his chosen quarry.

Interesting. Very interesting indeed.

This would take some time.

* * *

 **AN: I'm yet to be satisfied with this chapter, but the important bits are all in there. So, it's done finally. It's the first long wait, but I won't promise it will be the last.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	5. A Challenge Approaches

**A Challenge Approaches**

* * *

 _"Make no mistake. You leave the safety of darkness and secrecy to step once more into the light." He paused. Then, his voice weary, "They will come for you, Obito."_

 _The Uchiha shrugged._

* * *

Sakura had always been very smart for her age. When she was younger, her brother had given her his textbooks for future years at the academy. She read through them easily, memorizing the obscure facts, forms and hand seals at an alarming rate.

He had done the same thing with one of his basic medical ninjutsu textbooks. When, after months, she hadn't returned the book to him, he figured he had overwhelmed her. In reality, she had been fascinated by the complex diagrams describing the different systems that constituted the human body, and the biochemical and chakra-intensive means used to keep it alive. Technically, she still hadn't given it back.

Even at the academy, she always excelled at any mental task that was assigned to them. Tests, puzzles, riddles, she was almost always able to figure out the answer with enough time to think it over.

Now, she was faced with the curious case of Uchiha Obito.

The aforementioned Uchiha's head spun around, "One moment, kiddies."

Then, he disappeared. They waited for him for about ten minutes before he emerged from the trees, skipping happily.

This happened a lot.

They had now been on several C-rank missions since their first and on all of them, sometimes more than once, Obito would look up, disappear and then return whistling or skipping or humming.

One time when he returned, she had seen flecks of blood on his face. When she had asked him about it, he smiled brightly and pretended it didn't exist to nauseating extremes, denying all manner of portraits, reactions and reflections. Eventually, he had fallen into a river and then there really was nothing there anymore. So, she dropped it.

But, her curiosity remained.

Naruto and Sasuke were curious too, but they had no better idea than she did.

Naruto thought he was sacrificing kittens, but that might have been a joke. He had been warming up to their sensei after their first mission.

Sasuke thought he was being attacked.

She agreed with Sasuke. Obviously.

The difference was that Sasuke didn't think this was a problem. She wasn't so sure.

They finally met up with their client at an outpost on the southwestern border of the Land of Fire. Their client turned out to be clients: a merchant caravan.

The small caravan consisted of twenty-three people and their assorted goods. They would be escorting them from the border between the Land of Fire and Land of Wind to the Land of Rivers, where they would be able to sell their wares.

Not the most interesting of missions—bandits weren't likely to attack with a ninja presence there—but it _was_ only a C-Rank.

It was also basically a full day's trip at civilian pace. It was sunrise when they fell into formation around the caravan. Then, they were off.

She wondered how many times Obito would disappear into the trees this time.

They had travelled for quite a long time, the early dawn stretching into the long hours of the afternoon. Obito hadn't left, and Sakura's mind had travelled to other things.

She was wondering why the caravan didn't request Suna ninja to do the job, seeing as they were probably more familiar with the path, when a small capsule landed in front of the caravan.

Obito yelled, deadly serious, "Get down!"

A massive explosion went off in front of the caravan threatening to consume it. A merchant gave a scream that was cut off abruptly in disbelief when the explosion suddenly disappeared.

More capsules landed, exploding near the caravan. Each explosion disappeared into nothingness as Obito consumed them with his Kamui, the rush of heat and light folding away into a single, silent point.

As Obito consumed the last explosions, two dark shadows zoomed out from the trees toward him, wrapping him in chains. More of the merchants started to scream.

The enemy ninja were wearing face masks with rebreathers attached. Each had identical deadly looking claws attached by a serrated chain. Their Kiri headbands had a single slash mark through them. Then in an instant they pulled.

Obito yelled in pain and then was silent. The explosion which had been folding away, expanded again in a deadly blast, destroying one of the wagons. The Demon Brothers laughed menacingly and advanced toward the caravan.

Sasuke and Naruto slid in front of them side-by-side, tanto and kunai drawn respectively.

Then Naruto cursed. "Don't do that, Obito-sensei."

The Demon Brothers froze. Obito sunk a kunai into each of their skulls, but his cheerful demeanor didn't return.

"Team 7, escort the caravan to the destination. 5 kilometers, northwest. Our friends aren't quite done here...are you?" He said, looking out into the trees.

An overly dramatic sigh came from the trees, followed by a series of clicking, like wooden bones clacking together.

An attractive young man with red hair and impossibly flawless skin slid out from the trees. Above him were a number of red-cloaked puppets. They were scattered along around him on the edges of the trees, their wooden bodies clattering together menacingly.

"It's so hard to find good help these days," the redhead said. He wasn't wearing a headband. "But I supposed they served their purpose." He ran one immaculate hand through his spiky red hair.

Then he looked to Team 7. A lance of fear ripped through Sakura.

"Leave already. I don't like to be kept waiting," the redheaded ninja said.

But Sakura couldn't move. Killing intent, her mind supplied abstractly.

"It's alright," her sensei's calm voice called out to them. He smiled over his shoulder to them. "Complete the mission. This one won't hurt you." His eyes slid back to the missing-nin. "He'll be quite preoccupied."

Slowly, Sakura regained control of her senses. Some of the carriages had been damaged by the explosions, but she helped to quickly organize the civilians again. No one seemed hurt, but the atmosphere was tense as the merchants shuffled away.

Well, it was tense for them. Obito looked as relaxed as always, a vacant, vaguely amused expression on his face.

The missing-nin as well seemed uninterested in the civilians. He stood with an unnatural stillness and posed as if to start preening again at any moment.

Their relaxation was no comfort to the others; the merchants fumbled nervously with their wares as they hurried to gather the carriages together.

Sakura didn't blame them. Team 7 as well was dangerously on edge.

"Obito-sensei-" Naruto began, planning to protest.

"One moment, kiddies!" Obito said, wagging his finger at them, though his eyes stayed fixed on the missing-nin, "I have a guest to entertain." He stroked his chin in contemplation. "Although, I'm pretty sure I gave you a mission to complete."

They shared a look. That sounded like an order if there ever was one.

"Fine," Naruto said.

So they left, escorting the civilians away as quickly as they could.

* * *

"Now," Obito said, smirking, "shall we?"

His Sharingan blazed in his eyes, revealing the puppetmaster's tricks for what they were. The red-cloaked puppets began firing their rounds of senbon towards him. He darted forward, phasing through the projectiles with ease.

He shot towards the redhead, before phasing through him as well.

With the Sharingan, he could see the chakra strings attached to the redhead, revealing it as the puppet it really was. He followed those same chakra strings back towards the real Sasori with a vicious pace.

Sasori—the real Sasori—tried to escape, but, alas, he was too slow. Obito slid underneath his desperate punch and slammed him into the tree behind him.

"Bye, bye!" His Kamui activated in his right eye and the puppetmaster was sucked in. The puppets scattered throughout the trees clattered to the floor.

Huh. Somehow, he thought an S-rank opponent would be more difficult.

How boring.

Oh well, might as well see how his guest was enjoying his latest Genjutsu-based-

He phased again as two puppets shot up to impale him from either side. He slid past them, slapping a couple of exploding tags on them. They exploded violently, but he used his Kamui again as the explosion engulfed him.

As the smoke cleared, Sasori made himself known again.

"You didn't actually think it would be that easy did you?" He asked, the redheaded puppet speaking and taking center stage again.

 _Okay_ , Obito thought to himself. _I'm going to feel pretty silly if that's actually the real one_.

But...something told him that it was more complicated than that. Only one way to find out, he allowed himself to sink into the ground as more puppets began attacking him.

He reemerged far behind the redhead, but within line of sight. Once again, he could see the chakra strings attached to it, but he might as well be careful about it. His left eye spun. _Kamui!_

The redhead was absorbed. Some of the puppets fell, suddenly disconnected, but not all of them. The ones that did fall were reattached from several different locations.

Obito made a Shadow Clone as a distraction as the puppets rushed towards him. He phased into the ground, reemerging in secret once more. He began tracing the different strings to their owners.

Unfortunately, the long-range Kamui was far more chakra intensive than the short range version. The Shadow Clone jutsu also took a lot of chakra. He was perfectly fine for now, but he would have to restrain himself if this was going to last for a long time.

As the clone began conversing with the puppets again, he moved from puppet to puppet, memorizing their locations and connections. The puppet that was speaking had chakra strings attached to it, which led to other puppets in the forest with their own strings, which led to others and others and then finally back to where he had started.

In addition, it had a bright core of chakra in its chest that distinguished it from the dozens of other puppets floating around. The second puppet he had sucked into the alternate dimension had this too, but he hadn't thought much of it at the time, dismissing it as some sort of weapon.

However, as he tracked through the forests, he noted as many as nine puppets with this glowing center, each interconnected between each other with no discernible human controlling them.

It seemed that one of those nine were controlling the rest, but which was the real one?

 _Hm, a puzzle_ , he thought to himself. This would require _careful_ _observation_.

His right eye spun. _Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance!_

A great wave of fire streamed out from him, enhanced by the winds he summoned from the other dimension. The blaze tore through the forest, blasting through the area where Sasori's puppets were.

The puppets, suddenly aware of the deception, scattered, but the combination wind and fire jutsu had formed a truly massive inferno. The puppets disappeared under the blaze.

When the flames cleared, the forest was decimated. Some trees were blackened and broken from the heat. Many were destroyed completely, the ground scorched clean.

Best of all, it looked like he had gotten most of the puppets.

Only most of them though.

He phased again as waves of senbon and a stream of poisonous gas shot towards him.

This was getting repetitive.

There were maybe twenty or so puppets remaining, split between three control puppets with the glowing centers.

As the poison gas dissipated, Obito walked out of it, releasing his intangibility and yawning loudly. "Ready to give up yet? Or do I actually have to whittle down all-" he blinked hard as a wave of disorientation hit him, "all of your toy-"

What was wrong with him?

His side hurt for one. And looking down he saw something impossible. A senbon needle was sticking out of him.

 _How_ -?!

He stumbled, ripping the needle out and jumping towards the tree line. A puppet blocked him, a flamethrower poking out its hand.

He phased again as the flames passed through his chest. He felt it this time.

He landed in the treeline but stumbled, falling off the branch as another wave of disorientation hit him. He flipped, landing on his feet on the forest floor.

More senbon needles were digging into his back.

Then the puppets surrounded him, littering throughout the trees. Their empty eyes stared down at him. Obito fell to a knee as the pain ripped through him.

Sasori smiled as the wooden clattering began anew. "And now the Ghost shall die."

* * *

"Maybe, we shouldn't have left," Sakura said as Team 7 led the caravan towards their destination.

Sasuke made some indecipherable noise. "Right, because the elite jonin needs our help in a fight."

Sakura opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She sighed and turned away.

Naruto turned to her. "This is just like all those other times he disappeared. We just got to see what was going on this time," he said to comfort her. "Mystery solved. I knew I was right."

Sakura glanced up at him. She looked scared. He didn't blame her. That red-headed weirdo had gotten under his skin too.

"Maybe," she said.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You were right? We're not running away from an arcane ritual, dobe."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. So Obito was fighting enemy ninja. He _had_ thought that even if maybe Sasuke had called it.

And wait..."We're not _running away_ from anything. We have a mission to complete, remember?" He said, gesturing to the civilian caravan in front of them. Another Naruto was in the front, keeping an eye out for any other trouble they might run into.

They were exceedingly close to the destination by ninja standards.

But, well...

"And we are utterly grateful for your help, children," a portly merchant said to them. At civilian pace, this might take a while. "What a terrible fright that was." He took out a handkerchief and rubbed his sweaty forehead. Then he said, "Good thing that's all behind us...right?"

The last bit came out in a high-pitched squeak. And Naruto found Sakura looking back at him anxiously.

"Right," Sasuke said to the client. Then more quietly he continued, "We _are too_ running. Obito ordered us to scram, so we wouldn't be in the way."

Now Sakura was looking at Sasuke, her eyes wide in surprise.

Naruto snorted. Sasuke wanted to go back too after all.

"Then maybe we should-" Sakura started, but Sasuke cut her off.

"But he did order us to leave," he said, "so we complete the mission and leave the missing-nin to Obito."

Naruto smirked. "Aww, Sasu-chan, you're pouting."

Sasuke's glare shifted through angry to murderous. He'd pay for that later. Oh well.

"But the mission isn't more important than our comrades," Sakura said.

That was something that was emphasized in the academy. Naruto couldn't really remember the details but placing the mission over comrades was part of why the Third War had been bad. Whatever. It seemed pretty obvious to him.

"He's not in danger, Sakura," Sasuke said.

"Maybe," she repeated.

Well, he was in danger, but he wasn't in _danger_. Either way, they couldn't just leave him behind now that they knew what was happening!

Then again, they couldn't just leave the civilians behind either.

Luckily, Naruto knew just what to do.

"Let's book it!" He exclaimed.

Sasuke and Sakura turned to him, and he grinned.

"We get the caravan to the destination a bit _faster_. Then we can head back and watch Obito-sensei beat up someone else for a change."

"Be good enough not to," Sasuke grunted out. He nodded.

Sakura had been nodding before he even finished talking.

That's right! Team 7 saves their comrade _and_ completes the mission.

"Alright! Let's go!" He said as his hands came together in his signature hand seal.

A huge mass of clones burst into existence around them, picking up everything and everyone they could get their hands on. The civilians started to protest. Sasuke started glaring. There was a great commotion as Naruto's clones tried to get everyone on board.

"Maybe," Sakura said, "we should hurry?"

* * *

Obito struggled to rise to his feet as his vision swam.

"It's poison," Sasori provided helpfully, "My own design of course. You should be incapacitated in minutes and dead shortly after."

Obito dropped to a knee again, gritting his teeth.

"It wasn't easy, no, analyzing your skills, deducing your weaknesses and testing at each step along the way." He sighed, before shaking his head nostalgically. "All those kekkai genkai hating missing-nin from Kiri weren't cheap, even if they were easy to slip in with the _rest_ of the people who wanted to kill you. Then, there were the spies in Konoha naturally. And a way around those eyes of yours. No, not easy at all." He smiled. "Of course, the compensation will be...substantial."

Obito activated his Kamui, attempting to escape into the other dimension, when a huge gout of fire, far faster than before, forced him to phase to avoid it. Covered in flames in this dimension, he saw them.

More senbon hit him.

"It seems your intangibility and teleportation abilities are mutually exclusive. Very interesting," Sasori chimed.

Obito grunted in pain, which came out sounding disturbingly like a whimper. He could hardly phase through the ground safely and any attempt to escape into the other dimension would be stopped.

For the first time in ages, Obito was afraid he was going to die.

"Of course, I knew this already," Sasori continued, "But the demon brothers were useful as confirmation, I suppose. Even then, that's about all they were useful for."

A series of kunai shot out from the puppets in the trees, impaling Obito.

Or they would have if they didn't pass through him.

But he could feel his control slipping as kunai after kunai after kunai streamed through him. He felt like throwing up, the world refusing to stay still.

Finally, the barrage stopped.

Sasori sighed. "Still the ghost, it seems, but it hardly matters. This fight was over the moment you absorbed my clone."

In a way, he was right. Obito could feel the strength leaving him, his body refusing to obey.

He cursed its weakness. He cursed the pain and the absurdity of it.

He hated it.

He snarled as another wave of kunai flew towards him. Dark green chakra was coalescing around him. The kunai were deflected by a skeletal rib cage of chakra. The chakra rose higher and higher into a figure as tall as the trees.

 _Susanoo._

* * *

"Come on, come on, let's go."

* * *

A skeletal hand swiped into the tree line, but it was too slow. The puppets scattered, then regrouped in a different location.

"Ah yes, the Susanoo," Sasori said, "Surely, you know this won't be enough to save you?"

There was another massive swipe into the trees as the puppets scattered. Obito snarled. Then his vision swam again. Small glowing cracks spread along the dark green construct.

"Don't waste my time!" Sasori spit out.

From the stomach of the talking puppet an incredibly long coil with a rotating blade on the end of sped out. The blades hummed as they spun to life and then crashed into the Susanoo. The construct folded its arms over its chest to cover itself as the blade made contact.

Massive cracks opened up instantly as the blade sawed into it. Then with a push, one of the arms fell to the ground with an enormous crash.

It faded away into nothingness.

The other puppets hacked into Obito with swords covered in chakra, nipping at him menacingly as their wooden teeth clattered together.

The coil twisted, the blades spinning around through the air to hit Obito again when the Susanoo opened up its arms and massive shuriken made of chakra flew out from it.

He hadn't just been defending himself.

The puppets were caught off guard, the shuriken ripping through a third of them including the main one that had been attacking; the spinning blades crashed uselessly to the ground.

Obito's vision blurred and his body stumbled, but he ignored it. Only two with the glowing centers left.

His hatred gave him clarity enough to focus through the disorientation but every second it was fraying away. Similarly, the power of the Susanoo delayed the poison's effects, but it couldn't reverse them. His Susanoo covered itself again as he prepared more shuriken. The construct slowly regrew its arm but shrank drastically in size.

He glanced up again.

There were only three puppets with the glowing centers left.

No, that wasn't right. That wasn't possible.

The puppet with the rotating saw blade lay broken in front of him. Its cloak was ripped and its body was broken, but he could still see its chest with a circular, empty hole where a heart might go.

Ah.

And then, although his vision was blurry and his body weak, he knew which Sasori was real.

The remaining puppets didn't let up.

A scroll on the back of one of the main puppets disappeared and flames coated the Susanoo, baking the defensive shell of chakra. Its arms wrapped around itself, trying its best to protect him from the heat. More swords slashed into it, cracks opening up where they struck.

Obito grit his teeth as the world spun.

Then the attacks slowed, the fire abating as the puppetmaster reloaded.

The great arms of the Susanoo opened again, shuriken shooting out.

Not a single one connected.

Then, there was a great crack as a bolt of lightning ripped out from the puppet and blasted through the arms of the Susanoo for the last time.

Obito crashed back, tumbling wildly through the trees. He smashed through them until he came to a stop, the world still tumbling as he lay slumped against the tree.

The rib cage of green chakra clung to him, cracked and faded in multiple spots. A trail of blood fell from the Uchiha's forehead as he strained painfully against the broken tree.

He struggled to rise. He wouldn't fall here. He couldn't.

He refused to accept the failure that accompanied this shinobi world.

He stumbled, sliding back down to where he had started.

And Obito knew he was going to die.

Then, he met the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

Sasuke stiffened, almost resisting as he felt the genjutsu slam into him.

"Get up. _Get up._ " Naruto whispered frantically. He turned to them. "We have to do something."

They were huddled in the thick of the trees near the battle, far enough away to avoid detection. They could still see what was happening, and it was with fear and disbelief that they had watched their sensei fall. Obito's impressive jutsu had been brutally ripped apart, the puppets assailing him with unbelievable speed and power.

Naruto rose as if to jump uselessly into the fray. Sakura would have followed him.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's collar and slammed him back into the trees.

His stepbrother stared up at him in shock. "What _the fuck_ , Sasuke?" He half whispered, half shouted, "Obito-sensei's about to-"

 _Twenty seconds._

"Get ready," Sasuke growled out.

His mind was still spinning from Obito's instructions. The deluge of information had come out desperate and fuzzy, but the important bits were clear. And he had a Sharingan to parse out the rest of it.

Obito's disappearing trick was the same jutsu he used to become intangible. It teleported his body to another dimension (the same one he had sent Sasuke to during the bell test) whenever that part of his body overlapped with something in this dimension. While the object in this dimension would pass through him, parts of his body would appear, fully solid, in the other dimension.

Sasori knew this and had tricked Obito into teleporting a clone of some sort into that dimension. This clone controlled its own puppets to attack Obito whenever he tried to phase.

It had worked. Obito was poisoned and dying.

He knew how to end the battle now, but he needed to be able to phase again.

"What are you talking about?!" Naruto whispered loudly at him, but there were the hints of dawning comprehension there. "We have to go now."

Sasuke ignored him. "Sakura, can you heal someone who's poisoned? Enough to fight?"

She opened her mouth to ask a question, then thought better of it. _Thank you, Sakura._ "It depends on how bad the damage is. I can treat poison and heal to an extent, but if it's bad...do we need to get Obito-sensei to a hospital?"

He'd worry about that later. Ten seconds.

"Get close to me. _Now._ " Sakura hesitated and then snuggled into him. He held onto her and pulled Naruto to his feet. Five seconds. "We're jumping out together. Naruto, when we land, shadow clones!"

"What?"

Idiot!

Two.

One.

"Now!"

They jumped out into the clearing, holding tightly onto each other to make the smallest area possible. A puppet appeared in front of them with incredible speed, holding a sword glowing with chakra pulled back to bisect them.

Then, he felt the pull.

* * *

The puppet missed.

They were gone.

Obito and Sasori watched them disappear, the former slowly struggling to rise to his feet once more. The embers of the Susanoo clung stubbornly to Obito.

"You sent the _children?_ " Sasori said through his puppet. "Pathetic. I assure you my clone will be more than able to handle them." The puppet reloaded, another scroll disappearing. "Don't fret. They will join you in the afterlife."

* * *

Team 7 reappeared two feet above the ground in a strange place. An unending series of rectangular prisms of varying sizes surrounded them, floating individually over an endless, dark abyss.

Across from their small prism was a much larger rectangular prism at the same height, upon which the redheaded ninja stood. He turned to look at them as the ten puppets surrounding him trained their weapons on the team.

Senbon and kunai shot rapidly toward them. Sakura's eyes widened.

Sasuke opened his mouth to yell. "N-"

Dozens of shadow clones burst into existence around them the instant they landed. The ones in the front were almost instantly mowed down by the projectiles. Naruto made more.

Beside her, Sasuke frantically scanned the terrain. The three of them retreated through the clones to the edge of the prism, crouching against the side of it as the clones stood on top, shielding them from the barrage.

 _Pop!pop!pop!pop!pop!po-_

"Sakura," Sasuke had turned to her. Behind him, Naruto looked frustrated, his fingers in his signature seal as he watched Sasuke intently. "We're going to engage the puppets, you have to get there." He pointed in the direction of the puppets. "At the center of that block, Obito's going to appear, maybe in parts, maybe whole. He's poisoned. You have to heal him as much as possible."

Sakura's eyes had widened. Her heart had picked up pace and not just because Sasuke was staring at her intensely.

"In parts? What, I...I mean, understood." Then more quietly she added. "You can count on me, Sasuke-kun."

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled. _Pop!pop!pop!_

Sasuke gave her a long stare. _Pop!pop!pop!pop!_ Then turned away.

"Naruto, we have to take out the clone or at least distract the puppets."

"Ya think?!" Naruto yelled back. He popped his head over the top, shooting off a _Pressure Break._ His clones, granted a momentary reprieve charged forward. He turned to Sasuke suspiciously, his brow shining with sweat. "This saves Obito-sensei in the end?"

"Would we be here if it didn't?"

"That's what I asked, bastard!"

Sasuke smirked. "We have to draw their attention without getting hit even once. Everything's poisoned," he said, scanning the strange environment again, "then we can cut them off from where Obito and Sakura will be."

"There are five spots nearby," Naruto said, interrupting his search.

Sasuke looked at him in surprise.

"What?" Naruto said cheekily. Then an explosion destroyed more of his clones. The rush of heat and air streamed past them, their hair and clothes flapping wildly. Sakura hung on to the block for dear life as Naruto smiled through the chaos. "Don't act like I've never fought you! A bunch of little hidey holes are all around just for you! Now," His eyes were bright and challenging. "Are we gonna do this or not?"

Then Sasuke laughed, his shoulders relaxing as if a weight had suddenly been taken from them. There was a series of pops as the rest of the clones were destroyed.

"Just try to keep up, dobe."

Her teammates sped out over the top of the prism. They raced side-by-side against the deadly puppets, their hands speeding through signs.

 _Wind Style: Pressure Break!_

 _Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!_

With horror, Sakura realized the jutsu weren't traveling together but into each other. No! Combination jutsu were fiendishly difficult, especially ones with dominant and inferior elements. It required precise control, complementing chakra and jutsu, practi-

The wind shot into the flames as they wrapped around the tight cone, morphing into a blazing torpedo that smashed through two puppets, crashing into the ground and exploding next to the sand clone in a roar of fire and destruction. The clone darted to the side, its left arm destroyed as it jumped off the block that Obito would appear on to survive the assault.

Naruto and Sasuke rushed forward.

Sakura stared after them.

They were smiling.

Well.

That was her cue.

* * *

Obito stumbled forward, dodging as best he could from the projectiles. Patches of the Susanoo clung to him, and he maneuvered his body, using them to block the projectiles.

He had to give them as much time as possible to distract or destroy the puppets. A puppet with a sword glowing with chakra raced towards him, its sword drawn back.

Obito grunted with exertion as the embers of Susanoo concentrated on his chest, deflecting the puppet. The force of the blow knocked him back to the ground.

The power of the Susanoo disappeared.

He could no longer use his long range Kamui, he noted as the world spun. Just the same, his control was fraying; he wouldn't even be able to make the full five minutes with his intangibility.

Then, as the sword bearing puppet raced back around towards him and the redheaded puppet locked onto him, he grit his teeth and put his trust in Team 7.

* * *

Sakura darted along the side of their prism, carefully adjusting her control to account for gravity and her trajectory. Then, reaching the gap, jumped across, landing smoothly on the side of the larger prism that Obito would appear on while remaining practically out of sight.

She poked her head over the top. The top of the prism was empty, the ground scorched black from her teammates attack. Then, Obito appeared in a flash, his whole body floating a foot off the ground as if standing on nothing. Then most of him disappeared, replaced with different parts of his body flashing in and out of existence like a fourth dimensional shape passing through the third dimension.

She wasn't sure if that was a useful comparison as she raced towards the flickering body parts. In front of her, Naruto and Sasuke engaged the puppets. Naruto used his wind jutsu to deflect the projectiles back towards the puppets as Sasuke flipped elegantly, fireballs streaming from his mouth.

Her hands glowed green as she assessed Obito as best she could from the different parts of his body that appeared. The staccato drumbeat of information was carefully categorized and assessed.

Naruto was exposed from his wind jutsu. More projectiles from a different puppet streaming towards him and the few clones surrounding him.

Like clockwork, shuriken deflected some of the projectiles as the clones shifted protecting Naruto. More clones appeared as one of Sasuke's fireballs destroyed another puppet. There were only six remaining.

It was a miracle they were doing this well.

No, it was the clone. It must not have been as strong as the original. No clone was.

Obito appeared fully formed in front of her. His jaw was clenched shut, but his eyes were dilated and vacant. He seemed dangerously disoriented.

Now, Sakura had some decisions to make. _What's the difference between combat and clinical medical ninjutsu, Sakura-chan?_

Unlike medical ninjutsu in a clinical setting, combat medical ninjutsu couldn't always focus on curing the problem or injury. In combat, it was almost always more important to ensure the person was well enough to fight or escape than to completely heal all damage. Time was always of the essence as the enemy wasn't likely to allow you to spend extended periods of time healing everyone to full health.

When it came to poisons, things got complicated. The only remedy for poisoning was to directly counter them. Clinically, this was done either through an antidote, which countered it chemically, or the _Poison Extraction Technique,_ which literally removed the poison from the body. Sakura definitely didn't have an antidote, but the latter procedure had its own problem. Namely, that it was unbelievably painful and often induced unconsciousness after it was completed. Whatever jutsu Obito was using wouldn't last through that sort of technique.

Without those options, she couldn't fix the problem outright.

She knew what to do.

Sakura's hands glowed green as she protected the necessary organ systems from the excess poison in the bloodstream—a temporary stopgap depending on the amount of chakra and poison, but an important first step.

Then, she did her best to assess the kinds of damage caused by the poison, carefully modulating her chakra to heal the different systems. To the extent she was successful, this would reverse the effects of the poison and heal Obito.

It wouldn't remove the poison. Quite the contrary, it, in effect, drove the chemical reaction back in the opposite direction towards normal function. This meant it actually reproduced the poison that caused the initial damage inside the body.

Clinically, this was very, very bad. The poison as it did before would damage the organs. She could heal them again, but never as well as the first time. Healing the same injury over and over again, especially in a short period became progressively useless. The damage would become permanent.

But, in combat, death was the permanent damage you worried about.

"Sakura!" That was Naruto's frantic voice.

Her hand grabbed her staff as she spun. It flared to life with green chakra as she deflected the projectiles that flew her way. The ends of her staff were extended an extra fifteen feet on each side with the green blade as she traced through the necessary movements. Most of the projectiles were blocked before they got within ten feet of her. None connected.

The puppets moved towards her and Obito, but they were blocked by another combination technique from Naruto and Sasuke. It destroyed the puppet that had shot at her initially and cut off the others.

Sakura turned her back on the explosion, picking up seamlessly as she continued healing Obito.

All the fighting in the world wouldn't help them if their sensei fell.

Life had returned to Obito's eyes as he stared down at her. Only the trunk of his body was visible.

Then, he disappeared.

* * *

Spark.

A clone latched onto a puppet from above, pushing it into the ground. It only lasted seconds; a fuuma shuriken tore through the puppet and clone in an instant.

Naruto smirked. He better be fast with the follow up on that one.

Spark.

The speed of the senbon was terrifying. His clones were destroyed in wave after wave. The puppets like wraiths in the night swept through them, their swords bright with chakra, before returning to protect the sand clone from their attacks. One puppet slid past the real him with incredible speed. A clone beside Naruto tripped him as the the sword flew overhead. He rolled to his feet.

Spark.

Naruto ignited spark after spark of the Kyuubi's chakra as fast as he was able, which just wasn't fast enough. Beside him Sasuke was throwing shuriken, deflecting them off each other as he tried to kill the clone. Naruto's clones were divebombing towards the puppets. Other clones scattered around provided the odd support or thrown shuriken. Clones shot toward the sword-bearing puppet, shuriken forced it to defend itself.

Another perfect _Pressure Break_ raced toward the distracted puppet, but it weaved out of the way at the last second. The other puppets used the opportunity to nail Naruto with projectiles. Damn it! He wouldn't be able to get away in time!

Sasuke's shuriken countered the initial barrage giving time for his clones to protect him. Damn it, Sasuke had saved him again! And then Sasuke's _Phoenix Fire Flower_ took out another puppet.

Naruto could practically see the smug look on Sasuke's face as Naruto weaved through his clones, pulling another spark of the Kyuubi's chakra as he and his clones charged together towards the puppets. The clones were mowed down by the mechanical barrage of senbon and kunai, but it had given Sasuke the reprieve he'd needed to duck behind one of the prisms instead of getting tagged by the senbon that flew his way.

Naruto and his surviving clones spread out, peppering the puppets with exploding tags. A thought crystallized in Naruto's mind and he smirked.

Sasuke dashed out from behind the prism, tanto drawn as he raced toward the puppets dodging the projectiles and weaving through clones toward the puppets when he was suddenly clipped in the belly by one of their senbon and crashed, sliding to the ground. A puppet with a sword raced towards him to finish the job.

Sasuke exploded into a puff of smoke as the real Sasuke appeared from around the prism, multiple small fireballs shooting down to surround and destroy the puppet. The puppet shot up through an opening and ended up directly in the path of Naruto's next _Pressure Break._

Or it would have, if two other puppets hadn't slid in front, their arms locked together as a glowing shield of chakra blocked his finishing attack. Damn it! The more of the puppets they destroyed, the more difficult it got! And there were still six left.

Worse, the puppet that had risen from the flames had turned towards Sakura, darting forward as it shot projectiles at her.

No! "Sakura!"

She turned, deflecting the projectiles with her chakra scalpel. The glowing green staff-blade-thing was huge and deadly looking. It passed through Obito's floating body multiple times, but, somehow, it didn't affect their sensei at all. The projectiles, on the other hand, were deflected expertly.

A fuuma shuriken zoomed past Naruto, separating as the puppets tried to avoid it, clipping two of them, but not destroying them. Then Sasuke was by his side once more.

 _Wind Style: Pressure Break!_

 _Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!_

Their jutsu smashed through the puppet in front, cutting off the others with the explosion as Naruto and Sasuke raced to cut them off.

They would have been too slow.

Naruto reached desperately for a handful of the Kyuubi's chakra, suddenly appearing in front of the puppets surrounded by a new deluge of clones.

The puppets didn't stop. They weaved through, around, and over the clones toward Sakura. A rope of Narutos whipped the one over head out of the sky. He finished it off, smashing it into the ground with a tight cone of wind. The others retreated as Sasuke pelted the clone with exploding tags from the side. Senbon flew towards him as he ducked into mass of clones.

The Uchiha was breathing heavily as he rejoined Naruto, but his eyes were firm. "If we kill the clone, we can end this. We just need an...opening."

"I know that!" He yelled at him. But Naruto was breathing hard, the odd memory from his shadow clones sticking out as he tried to figure out a path to the sand clone.

Sasuke slumped against him, grunting. Naruto's eyes widened as he turned to him. A trail of blood trickled down his leg.

Naruto's blood ran cold.

"Fuck!" Naruto yelled as he pulled Sasuke to his feet and began dragging him back towards Sakura. He quickly found the cut that had poisoned the Uchiha.

Sakura was staring intently at the spot Obito would appear at, a half dozen clones around as a warning system as she waited. Her hands were up and ready.

"Sakura!" Naruto said frantically as he reached her. She turned quickly, her hand reaching for her staff, but faltering as she realized it was the real him with Sasuke. "He got hit! You have to heal him."

Her eyes had widened in horror. Behind her parts of Obito flashed in and out of existence. Then she looked down at Sasuke.

His eyes were hard.

"I-I can't," she said, "I have to heal Obito-sensei. It's the only way we're getting out of this alive!" As if her words had summoned him, their sensei reappeared. Her hands glowed green as she healed him.

Beneath him, Sasuke nodded before grunting in pain once more.

Naruto's eyes darted around frantically before settling on his female teammate. "But, Sakura! You-we can't just-" Sakura's hands faltered.

"No, Naruto," Naruto looked down at Sasuke. "You have to use it."

The world slowed to a stop. No. "No. I-you-I can't!"

Sasuke grit his teeth. "You have to!"

"I can't. The Hokage-"

"We're in a different dimension! No one can detect us!"

No. He couldn't. It was too dangerous. The consequences were too severe. He was shaking his head as his clones were whittled away and his best friend stared up at him with fear in his eyes. The old man had explained the reasons, stressed the consequences.

"Naruto, you have to! Or we die! Right here, right now!"

If it was discovered that Naruto was a jinchuriki, every nation would have the right—no, the obligation by international treaty—to go to war together against Konoha.

Everything he knew and loved would be destroyed.

Beneath him, Sasuke started to shake in pain.

No.

Naruto rose and faced the puppets.

He walked out past his clones until he stood face to face with the redhead. The puppets wasted no time trying to kill him.

Then, he _pulled_.

* * *

"What _is_ that?" Sakura said as a great and terrible pressure descended upon her.

"That," Sasuke breathed, "is the reason I have these eyes."

The senbon flying toward Naruto bounced off an invisible ripple of power.

Naruto looked up with red, slitted eyes. Then, he _roared_.

A red shroud of chakra enveloped him, two tails appearing to swing menacingly behind him. The puppets were visibly pushed back from the force of his roar, wind whipping past them. The clones closest to Naruto exploded.

Sakura couldn't understand what she was seeing as the gust of wind pushed back into her as well. Her eyes squinted against it to see a red spectre of power where her friend once stood.

Then Naruto looked over his shoulder, the blonde still visible through the animalistic cloak that surrounded him. "Keep healing Obito-sensei, Sakura-chan. Then heal Sasuke." He turned back. "No matter what the bastard says."

Naruto bolted forward, the ground cracking underneath his feet as he charged the puppets.

"R-Right."

Obito reappeared. She healed him more, but it was losing its effectiveness. His eyes were cold and scary, his Mangekyou pattern shining in his eyes. Then, he winked at her and disappeared again.

Naruto tore through the puppets. Their projectiles bounced off his chakra shroud as he smashed into them. Where before they were barely holding on for their lives, Naruto broke through the opposition with ease, crushing all of the remaining puppets, and slamming a gigantic claw through the sand clone.

He stood there, cloaked in the tailed shroud of chakra as a dark miasma of power radiated off him, and, finally, the word came to Sakura's lips.

"Jinchuriki."

* * *

Obito passed through the senbon that were fired his way, racing towards the puppets as his poisoned blood pumped through his veins. Phasing gave Sakura time to reverse the damage, but it was temporary and the longer he spent between those moments, the worse he felt.

And, each time the damage was reversed, he felt worse than the time before. Already, his vision was starting to blur.

It was time to end this.

The real Sasori and his puppets weaved out of the way, keeping a steady stream of projectiles trained on him. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem, but the limit on his intangibility was reduced. He couldn't be sure how long it would last.

Once more the skeletal rib cage of the Susanoo appeared around him. Then, arms formed reaching out to swipe uselessly into the puppets.

Sasori reloaded, flames bathing the construct, followed by bolts of lightning that tore holes through the Susanoo's frame.

The construct slowly faded away.

It was a useful decoy.

Obito emerged from the ground directly behind the real Sasori and plunged a lightning covered hand through his chest.

The puppetmaster died silently to a chorus of birds. The puppets surrounding him fell together.

Obito pulled his bloody hand from Sasori's chest. Then he stumbled to the floor next to his fallen opponent.

It was over.

His bloody hand twitched gently, an uncomfortable side effect of the jutsu he'd used but a reminder of the world he still occupied.

For now at least.

His right eye spun back to life, his eyes shooting open instead of drifting into a painful oblivion. From it, with what seemed to be agonizing slowness, Team 7 emerged.

Sakura cursed, an unfamiliar sound that made Obito smile as warm chakra covered his chest.

"Thanks...for waiting, kiddies," he said with difficulty as Sakura unfurled a sealing scroll. "Now, escort your sensei to a hospital. Ready, set..."

There was a great pain inside his chest and Obito slipped into blissful unconsciousness as his body thrashed.

It was a long road back to Konoha.

* * *

"So?"

Sakumo sighed, a long, noisy sound that betrayed his fear and sadness. The crystal ball beneath him showed the hospital. "He'll survive. The medics say he'll need a long time to recover however." There was a pause. "It's too soon to say if any damage is permanent."

Shikaku shuffled slightly. "And the genin?"

"Performed astonishingly well. An A-Rank mission has been added to their records."

He nodded. "Obito will need time to recover then. Do you need me to assess replacements?"

Sakumo shook his head. "He is still their sensei. And I don't believe he will be kept down for long no matter what we say." Shikaku snorted, shaking his head ruefully. "More importantly," he trailed off, looking back towards Obito, "it is often the hardships more than anything that bring people closer together. If they weren't a team before, well...

"They are now."

"They'll be inseparable. Watch," he said as he stared at the sleeping Uchiha, "they will shock the world."


	6. Ceremony: Part One

**Ceremony: Part One**

* * *

The ceremony began slowly.

Two ninja walked to the large flame burning at the front. Each held a small candle in their hands. They tilted their candles into the fire, lighting it. Then they returned to the crowd. They each lit another's candle. Then each of those lit the candles of others. On and on, it went.

Eventually, Sakura's own flame was lit, Sasuke quietly placing his candle against hers. She passed the flame on to Ino, who gave her a rare sympathetic look before passing it on to her teammates.

The Fourth Hokage walked onto the stage. He waited quietly before the gathering of ninja and civilians.

Eventually, perhaps when all the candles had finally been lit, he began to speak.

"We are gathered here today to mourn the losses and honor the sacrifices of our loved ones. Sky Country's attack was swift and brutal. And although our revenge was total, we were burdened with the terrible costs of that day. Many of our brave companions lost their lives defending against the attack. Many more innocent civilians lost their lives as well."

Ino looked to Sakura with that same look again. It made Sakura mildly uncomfortable, but not for the reason Ino might have thought.

Sakura's birth parents had died during the Eclipse. Sky country forces had stormed the village with flying machines. Then, their very village, a massive flying island with incredible power, had appeared over Konoha, its size blotting out the sky as its weapon prepared to fire. In a single, terrible strike, much of Konoha had been destroyed. Only hastily erected barriers had prevented its total destruction, barriers that had not withstood the blast.

Then, the machine had fired again.

Of course, Sakura didn't remember any of this herself. She had only been two years old.

She couldn't remember her birth parents at all either. But, well...she didn't really mind. It was sad that they had died, but not because it was personal or anything.

Her family was a few rows ahead of her, looking somber near a large group of Senju clan ninja.

"However, it is impossible to remember this terrible event without remembering one person. Without him, our great village would not have survived. He saved us when all hope was lost. He destroyed their weapon and killed their leader, but...at a terrible cost."

Sakura continued scanning the crowd, her candle flickering quietly beneath her. She couldn't find him.

"Namikaze Minato was the purest embodiment of the Will of Fire that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and he made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve that flame, the same flame which burns in each of our hands today. He was a legend of his time and will be remembered forever as a hero."

Sakura turned to Sasuke, gesturing discretely to get his attention. His dark eyes shifted to her. He looked somber too or perhaps just stoic. Perhaps his own loss mattered to him. Perhaps not.

But that wasn't what she wanted to ask him.

"Sasuke," she whispered, "where's Naruto?"

He gave her a small, pained look, then shook his head quietly, his eyes returning to the Hokage.

"He was the Yellow Flash. He was the hero of the Flowing Ridge. He was..."

* * *

 _The man who would have been Hokage!_

Naruto scoffed to himself as he left Ichiraku Ramen. He wondered how many times people would throw that one around before the end of the day. Yellow Flash, this. Namikaze, that. What a hero!

His dark mood had barely been brightened by the kindness of Teuchi and Ayame. They had given him multiple large containers of ramen for free. They had apologized for his loss.

That last one probably hadn't helped even though he knew they came from a good place. He wasn't mourning his father.

He hated him.

And for good reason!

The ramen wasn't for Naruto after all.

He kept out of sight as he made his way back to the Uchiha-Senju compound. The streets were mostly empty. Almost everyone was attending the ceremony commemorating the sacrifices that had occurred. It was the ten-year anniversary of the attack.

It was a day of mourning, and it was one of the few days that he saw his mother as he remembered her from his childhood.

He slid open the door to his house but left his sandals on as he walked quietly up the steps.

He wasn't going to stick around. Maybe he'd go train or something—pranks probably wouldn't be a good idea. Whatever. He just didn't want to stay here.

As he reached the top of the steps, the door to his mother's room slid open, and Fugaku walked out. His eyes were dark and pinched tight with grief. The expression remained as the man quietly closed the door behind him.

Naruto didn't move. Fugaku's hand was still on the door. Slowly, Fugaku's expression transformed into something resembling his normal stoicism. He looked Naruto over, his eyes lingering on the boxes he had brought.

Then, he nodded once and walked past him down the steps.

Sasuke's mother had died the same day Naruto's father had.

Kushina had been inconsolable. Fugaku had mourned far longer than appropriate. Then, they had ended up together, finding solace in their similar circumstances.

Kushina had gone from mostly distraught to mostly mothering.

So, even though her relationship with Fugaku had been weird, Naruto was grateful to Fugaku. He had made his mother happier. He'd brought Sasuke and Itachi with him.

Naruto looked down as he passed.

He was there for her even when Naruto wasn't.

Now...

Naruto slid the door open.

The room was a mess. Kushina sat near the window on the other side of the large, unmade bed. Empty ramen boxes were scattered across the floor. Next to her, another box sat half-eaten and cold beside her.

Kushina's eyes were red and puffy as tears fell. Her whole body shook as she clutched her arms tightly around herself. Her hair was unkempt, errant red strands sticking up or covering her face. Her empty eyes stared down towards his feet as he passed. She didn't speak.

He placed the ramen next to her.

"Hey," he started brightly, "I brought ramen! Ichiraku's was real nice, and, uh..." Fresh tears fell down his mother's face. His voice faltered. "It's miso and pork. They even threw in a vegetable one, heh." It was the worst of the bunch obviously. "Maybe we could share it. Or you could just eat it all. That'd be fine too. It's probably what I'd do..."

There was no response. He knew better than to expect one. He really did.

Growing up, it was nearly every day that this was how his mother had been. Crying. Silent. Broken.

He sighed, half leaning, half slumping against the wall as the weight of his memories pressed down on him. He remembered all the times he had tried to get her to feel better. All the times he had failed, that was. Stop crying. Please say something.

Kushina shook her head beside him, holding her arms more tightly to herself.

It hadn't worked.

In time, he had found out what had happened. Minato, with the village on the brink of destruction had sprung into action, grabbing his jacket and rushing towards the battle. He had comforted his wife as she held an artificial jinchuriki in her arms.

And, as he left, he swore to return.

Naruto's eyes darkened.

Despite all the accolades and speeches about heroism, this was Namikaze Minato's true legacy: a broken promise and the suffering of those he left behind.

It was worse when he was younger, filled with confusion and loneliness instead of anger. It was one of the reasons he had started to act out and play pranks. Back then, it was one of the few things that gained his mother's attention. She would retrieve him or scold him or punish him or laugh at the results of his activities. And, in those brief moments, he could guarantee the only attention he craved.

She wasn't totally absent in his childhood. She had taken care of him where she could. She had instilled in him the love of ramen as they shared Ichiraku's or boxes filled of the instant variety. He'd love her for that alone if he had to.

Still...he had done things which really weren't very good. And he had felt so very alone. The cheery reputation he'd had among the villagers had eagerly turned to shame and pity. Just as well, they might have said, that the demon's curse spread to him as well. First, her fiancé's demise and then this brat's delinquency.

They blamed his mother for the death of their beloved, would-be Hokage, but Naruto knew better.

Minato Namikaze was a hero of the village.

And this is what a hero does.

"Or you could...you could just talk." His eyes blinked closed. "Just once! Today, instead of..." Instead of allowing yourself to be broken. Perseverance instead of silence and pain.

But his mother as well had failed one of the only tests Naruto had promised himself to pass. He grit his teeth.

He needed to get out of here.

Kushina shivered.

Yeah. He should go. This was totally bumming him out.

But he didn't leave. He stayed there in that room filled with pain, hoping that something would change. He waited for too long. He knew better. He really did.

That was the thing Naruto believed deep down in his gut: all the hope in the world wouldn't change a thing by itself. You had to work and keep working. No matter what.

Naruto gave a trembling sigh, pushing himself off the wall as he walked towards the door. He almost made it.

It was so quiet that he almost didn't hear it. "Stay."

Nearly out of the room, he half froze, stumbling over his own feet, before turning back to his mother.

Slowly, too slowly, she turned to him. Her tear-filled eyes, for all their redness, were brighter and bluer than his own as she tried and failed to give him a small smile. She was afraid, he realized, afraid that he'd keep walking. She didn't want to be alone. "Stay with me, Naruto-kun," she said quietly, "Please."

He stared at her tear-stained face. He had definitely seen her mouth move. And...heard things too.

He was pinned to his spot, fearing any movement might suddenly shatter this fragile dream.

Slowly, he put one foot forward, then the next and the next, walking stiffly until he was next to his mother. He sat down.

Then, they looked out over the village together. She didn't speak and he couldn't. There was silence, broken only by the soft bustle of villagers moving beneath them.

Finally, Kushina sighed quietly. "You...you look so like him."

"Yes," he said robotically. Not that he particularly liked that fact.

"Except for these," she continued knowingly, a small smile on her lips as she reached out to scratch gently at his whisker marks, "those are all me."

Naruto pulled back, embarrassed, as she pawed at his face, and she laughed quietly at him.

Naruto breathed in harshly at the sight. What was going on? He wanted to shout it from the top of his lungs, but the lump in his throat was in the way.

Kushina looked back out the window. "You know, I remember, just before you graduated, you painted the Hokage Monument, do you remember?"

"I remember," he said automatically. He didn't trust himself to say anything else.

"All the Hokage looking silly except for one, the _Fifth_ ," she said, "whiskers and all." She laughed quietly at him again, but the levity disappeared as it trailed off into a small hiccup of emotion. She took a moment to compose herself before continuing, "But, you know, for a moment looking at it, I thought..."

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head, more of her messy red hair shifting over her face. She fixed it back behind her ear as a long, slow breath calmed her. "He was...he was the man who would have been Hokage. But," she said, "He never was."

They watched as the village churned beneath them. A few silent tears streamed down her cheeks.

Then, she smiled.

"So maybe, just maybe," she continued, her fingers reaching threateningly out towards his face, "maybe, you will be instead. I think...that will be enough."

Naruto didn't know what to say. His own eyes felt wet and he hastily rubbed them clear. His mouth opened and closed to no avail.

"It'll certainly be a lot for this one to live up to," his mother said, rubbing her stomach gently.

Kushina's belly had begun rounding in earnest, his half sibling growing inside of her. She was nearly six months pregnant.

Naruto had known she was pregnant of course, but she hadn't ever talked about it. And it was hard to imagine a future with him or her in it.

But, somehow, it suddenly seemed a little bit more real.

Kushina smiled brightly with just the barest hint of a sniffle and leaned towards him conspiratorially. "It's a girl," she whispered.

And that, Naruto decided, was just fine with him.

* * *

Uchiha Obito rolled over in his hospital bed. The nurses had left the building or were otherwise occupied.

His Sharingan activated.

Miles away from the hospital, Obito, covered in bandages and still in his hospital gown, gestured to the bartender.

Then, he downed that glass as well.

* * *

"Thank you. And may the Will of Fire burn within us all!"

The speech ended to heartfelt applause. The Fourth Hokage was an excellent speaker, mixing pride for the village with respect for the dead and an undying hope for the future that was truly inspiring. The Fourth Hokage left the stage, and the crowd started to disperse.

"If you want to talk about anything," Ino was saying to her.

Sakura shook her head. "I'm fine, Ino, thanks. Sasuke-" she started. Sasuke had started to walk away, and Sakura moved to follow after him.

A hand wrapped around her forearm. She turned around to see Ino watching her with concern. "I mean it, Forehead," she said bossily, "It's not good to bottle everything up all the time. I mean, one day it's fine, sure, the next-"

"It's fine. _I'm_ fine, Ino. Really." She responded. And really, she was fine. No memory. No mourning.

She was more worried about the present than the past.

Ino sighed but let her go.

Sakura immediately turned back to chase after Sasuke. She weaved her way through the crowd after the Uchiha.

Luckily for her, he had stopped on the outskirt of the crowd, his hands in his pockets as he scanned his surroundings.

She hesitated as she approached. She was going to do it: talk to him, tell him how she felt, hear his response. She let out a nervous breath.

She could do this.

Sakura walked purposefully towards Sasuke. He glanced to her as she approached. There was an indecipherable look on his face.

"Sasuke-kun!"

That wasn't her.

Another girl had ran over to the Uchiha, wrapping her arms around his neck and smiling at him. She was a little bit taller than Sakura with brown hair and bright hazel eyes. She looked older than Sakura by a year or two as well, more mature, she thought to herself. She was wearing black like everyone else, but her outfit was cute unlike the practically ceremonial garb that surrounded her.

Sasuke nodded back to the girl, a small smirk on his face.

She squealed at him.

"Are you ready to go?" Sasuke asked. His voice was calm, but there was something in it Sakura couldn't place. He carefully avoided her questioning gaze.

"Always," she said, snuggling close to him as she interlaced their fingers. Sakura's stomach dropped.

Her mouth opened anyway. "Um, hi," she said.

The girl spun to her with confusion. "Oh, hi." She turned back to Sasuke as if to leave. Sasuke stared blankly at Sakura. The girl turned back. "Did you want something?"

She tried to keep her face neutral. "I...I don't think we've met. I'm Senju Sakura."

"Ooh, you're one of Sasuke-kun's teammates! It's nice to meet you. I'm Mineko." They shook hands.

She pouted back to Sasuke in an instant. "Are you ready to go yet, Sasuke-kun?" She cooed to him.

Sasuke grunted in dismissal, his gaze still on Sakura. The girl hummed in acquiescence as if he had asked gently for a moment. "Is something wrong, Sakura?"

 _Yes! And it's standing next to you._ She thought of something else to say. "We're, uh, still training without Obito then?"

"Hn."

"Good. That's good. I hope he recovers well," she paused to find the words, "So, I guess I'll see-"

Mineko wrapped her arms back around his neck. Sasuke's dark eyes spun to the brunette and she pouted again.

He turned back to Sakura. Something on his face faltered. "Ask Naruto, okay?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Yeah, of course." She turned to Mineko. "It was nice meeting you."

The older girl waved her away. "Mhm. See you soon, I hope."

They watched as Sakura turned awkwardly away and started walking. She didn't look back. She couldn't.

Sakura felt a familiar and all too unwelcome emptiness as she walked. Of course, Sasuke would have a girlfriend. An older girlfriend at that with all sorts of experience and qualities that distinguished her from any and all of the girls that had made up their year. Qualities that meant Sakura never had a chance in the first place.

Her eyes started to water and she picked up the pace, rubbing them swiftly to avoid crying in public. She didn't even know where she was going, but she didn't care as long as it was very far away.

Her feet brought her to the doors of the Konohagakure Clinical Laboratory. She tried to open it, but the door was locked. Sakura, still only a genin, didn't technically have access to the building on her own. Yes, despite the fact that she was just as good if not better than many of their chunin recruits, with fewer spills and mistakes and far more skills, her rank was all that mattered.

Because that made sense.

She could look for Ken in the hospital or at home. If he was at the hospital, she would have to help him there. She enjoyed it, but not today. She didn't think she could handle that today.

Hopefully, he would be at home.

Her brother would help shuffle her away into the bowels of the Clinical Laboratory, she knew. He would understand if she buried herself in work to stop the pain. He'd probably be delighted.

The sooner the better.

Sakura wandered into her house. It wasn't Ken in the kitchen.

Her mom looked up as she entered. "Oh there you are, Sakura-chan!"

"Hi, Mom," she said, "Is Ken home?"

"No, working again, I'm sure." She shook her head. "I hope he's okay."

It suddenly occurred to her that Ken might actually be doing what she planned to. She didn't know if anyone he knew had died during the attack.

She wasn't sure if she could imagine it. Ken seemed somehow too invincible to mourn like everyone else did. He would just explain the different ways to handle grief healthily and reassure her he had done so in the half-hour since she'd seen him at the ceremony.

She smiled. She'd believe him.

But that left her with no way into the lab. Her smile faded as she carefully avoided thinking about the past few minutes.

She wasn't successful.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura shook her head, rubbing her eyes as discreetly as possible as the tears started to flow freely.

Arms enveloped her, her mother crossing the room to wrap her in a large hug. "Come on, you can tell me, honey."

She shook her head. She hated feeling like this. And she didn't want to talk to her mom about boy problems.

Her mother squeezed her a little tighter. "It is such a sad day," she probed gently before continuing. "It's one of those days where it's alright to cry because everyone's crying at least a little bit. I just try to think about the good things too or else I might just fall to pieces." She laughed a little and Sakura just smiled. Her mother was a remarkably strong person. She was always helping others. "A lot of my friends died ten years ago, and the clan was just as insufferable back then, of course. There were so many orphans, but would they take even one into the family? No! Build an orphanage a day if they had to, throw money at the problem but the thought of 'soiling' the name of the 'Senju?' No way. 'Clan of Love,' bah, they wouldn't know love if it hit them in the face, and I was just about ready to!" Sakura chuckled quietly at her mother's animated speech, sniffling into her shoulder and finding comfort in the familiar story.

"We wouldn't let that stand," she continued more quietly. "We knew we were going to open our hearts up to one of the innocent children paying for the village's terrible wars. But which one? Hm, how were we going to pick? I wonder who we'd go with." She glanced at Sakura. "Maybe someone who looked like us? Maybe someone older? We could only take one, we knew." She squeezed Sakura again.

Sakura remembered this too. She could still feel the anxiety of Adoption Day, standing in the courtyard as grownups streamed past, dressed in her best and only dress, watching other people disappearing behind the gate forever.

And a different older boy she didn't recognize, who walked differently than the orphans around her, speaking to them as he passed.

Until, finally, he spoke to her.

"The three of us spent so much time looking, your father and I hemming and hawing, so nervous. Then," she laughed, "then our little Kenma, our little 12-year old Kenma, returns one of those days with-just holding this little pink-haired girl's hand." There were tears in the corners in her eyes as she recounted the story with a huge smile. "And he _introduces_ her to us as his new little sister! And, oh you know how he can be, no room for discussion with his silly parents!" Sakura knew. "And you were just so cute together. I don't know if we could have said no if we wanted to."

The boy had been nice but talked like a grown-up. He had asked her simple questions like her name, her age, her favorite color perhaps, and then whether she would like to be adopted. She did. She really, really did.

And, suddenly, she was.

"It felt as if it was always meant to be, somehow." She pulled back to smile at Sakura.

 _What had happened?_ Sakura wondered to herself now. Her family had given her the thing she wanted most of all. She had been so happy, so excited and relieved.

Sakura hugged her mother tightly as the tears began to fade.

"Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if that terrible machine hadn't shown up. We might never have," she hugged Sakura a little tighter, "Oh, I'm not making much sense, am I, rambling on and on?" She paused for a moment. "It was such a tragedy, but I'm-yes, I'm grateful for that in some ways. Oh dear," she said uncertainly, "That's terrible, isn't it?"

"No!" Sakura said quickly, pulling back to look at her. "No, it isn't. I love you too." She hugged her again. _And thank you for everything._

* * *

Sasuke had grown up under his father's high expectations. The Uchiha Head's first born had turned out to be an unassailable prodigy, the type of genius legends are made of. Yet, he believed his second born might be just as impressive.

Thus, Sasuke's childhood had been filled with the quiet disappointment that fills the gap between excellence and perfection.

Sasuke wanted to win his father's approval, so he too was disappointed at his own failures. At times, he wanted to hate his older brother. If only he could have been less perfect, Sasuke would have been able to succeed. He would have been able to rest. Instead, he pushed himself from a young age. He tore himself apart trying.

Or, he would have, for there was exactly one person kind to Sasuke in his house growing up. It was Itachi who showed Sasuke kindness, who was genuinely proud and happy, who let him relax. It was his older brother's expectations that were always restrained by love.

So, the disappointment learned from his father gave way to the happiness and confidence of his brother. In time, he was satisfied with being the best in his class instead of the best ever. In time, he was content with an awesome big brother, a stupid younger brother, and a silly stepmother.

Then, Itachi had disappeared, and Sasuke couldn't do a thing about it.

He had learned his lesson.

Once again, he pushed himself farther and harder than before. He put himself into difficult positions and devised complicated plans. Anything, he said, to find his brother.

But...it was times like this that made him reconsider.

Mineko squealed beside him. "Ohmigod, you look _so_ good when you think, Sasuke-kun!"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he considered an appropriate response. They were walking up the backside of the Hokage Monument to reach the top.

Ishikawa Mineko was everything he remembered the fangirls in the academy to be. How she had become a chunin was beyond him.

Finally, he said, "I know."

She giggled beside him wrapping her arms around him. He did roll his eyes that time—carefully out of sight, of course.

Itachi's mission was a B-Rank, but it was retroactively classified higher due to unusual circumstances. That meant the security around the reports generated from the incident were kept under security too high for Sasuke to retrieve.

It was still stored in the Archives.

"But what are you thinking about, Sasuke-kun?" She asked.

He grunted a dismissal as they navigated a steeper section of the Monument.

"Emotional, that's how I'd describe her."

Sasuke glanced back in confusion.

"Your teammate? Don't worry, I know all about that. My teammate was _so_ emotional. And the other one was super lazy. I'm pretty sure it's why the team didn't stick together, you know?"

Sasuke had a different theory about that actually.

She sighed, replacing a brown strand of hair behind her ear. "It must be hard carrying your team all the time, Sasuke-kun, but don't worry, I understand. And it makes you _sooo_ cool."

Sasuke thought of the burning miasma of power and the frantic hands pushing painful liquid into his chest.

"I know," he said. Then, he smirked, and she squealed again, snuggling into him.

Finally, he had free time from missions, which meant it was time to finish this.

"Here we are," he whispered as they reached the top of the Monument.

"Oh, wow, Sasuke-kun!"

The village sprawled out below them backed by a gorgeous sunset that bathed the Monument in soft light.

Mineko turned to him, a flash of hunger in her eyes that was quickly replaced by coyness. They sat there for only a moment before she decided to kiss him.

Mineko leaned in, her lips pursed expectantly, but he didn't return the favor, staring pointedly off into the distance.

"S-Sasuke-kun?" She said after a moment. "Is something wrong?"

He glanced towards her. "Actually," he began, "I was hoping you could show me something."

She smiled. "Anything."

* * *

Naruto's eyes opened blearily.

Sasuke was at his desk, a small lamp on. The window was closed, the blinds drawn shut. It was very late.

Papers were spread out in front of the Uchiha. On the wall in front of him as well, there were pictures of different villages' headbands, reports, and maps. His eyes were red and bloodshot; the sharingan glowed against the dim lamp light.

He wrote, scribbling mechanically as he transcribed the information he had collected. Page after page after page, he recreated without fail.

Apparently, he had gotten what he'd needed. But what?

He already knew that Itachi's mission had been a border patrol on the northern part of the Land of Fire. He knew he had been in a team of four, consisting of Itachi, Yugao, Hayate and Genma. He knew the basic gist of events. They had noticed nothing, resting after a mission with Itachi keeping watch. When they awoke, he was gone.

He even knew that secondary analysis had shown that chakra absorption techniques had been used nearby and genjutsu had been used on Itachi's three teammates.

It was a pretty good picture in Naruto's sleepy eyes. Sasuke thought the mission report would have more.

It had to, he had said. He needed it to.

A frown crossed Naruto's face. He missed Itachi, but for Sasuke...it was more than that. It was something more.

Naruto couldn't find the words, but he understood his brother. That's why he would help him.

No matter what.

He rolled back over, closing his eyes.

Sasuke worked long into the night.

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata was not a brave girl. She was too caring for that. Emotional.

That same emotion was part of why she was held in such low regard by the clan. She cared too much, paid too much attention to the emotions of others.

Her younger sister's desire to prove herself. Her father's disappointment.

Always, she wanted to reach out and soothe the desires of those around her. Always, when crushed with the failures of her own weakness, a small piece of her would vanish beneath her guilt forever. Grow a little weaker, meeker. Stutter a little more. Close up a little tighter in a vain attempt to protect herself from the emotions that she by her nature invited.

It was this same attention with which she had seen Naruto over the years.

She had seen the loneliness and confusion of his childhood. She had seen his anger and desire to live up to and surpass a mythical figure. She had seen the pain of failure as he lost out to Sasuke in class, the stigma of his parentage as villagers whispered demon's brat, and his own inability to change them.

She had seen him care, and she had seen him fail.

And so, most of all, she had seen his resilience and determination.

Every time _he_ fell, he got back up. Every single time.

But what made him do it? What made him able to do it?

What gave him the strength that she craved?

So, she watched him always and always from afar. She knew she was too weak to help him, too likely to make a mistake. She was a disappointment and a failure.

But, somehow, watching him made her think she could be different. Maybe she could never give up. Maybe she could be strong if she tried hard like he did. Maybe she could learn. Maybe he would teach her. Maybe they would hug. Maybe they-

But maybe she would mess it up. Maybe he would look down on her. Maybe he would say no. Maybe it would hurt.

She stayed far away.

This was quite fortunate because, whenever she was close, it felt as if all of those possibilities might suddenly become one particular reality.

Hinata pushed her fingers together nervously, fighting down a blush as her thoughts twisted into themselves, jumping anxiously between fantasy and tragedy.

Naruto was sitting beside her.

Then, the Uchiha-Senju Clan Ceremony began.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, this took forever. Many of these scenes were difficult to write, so hopefully they come off well enough. And as you may be able to tell from the title, I've split the chapter into two parts again to keep it from being 10k+ words and to get this out a few days sooner. The second half has one large scene left that's been giving me trouble, but the wait won't be nearly as long.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	7. Ceremony: Part Two

**Ceremony: Part Two**

* * *

Sakura slipped quietly through the folds of the curtain that served as the entrance to the Clan Ceremony. It was held in the large Meeting Hall located in the center of the compound.

It was full of people. And, while she recognized some of them, it was only in passing. She wandered along the outskirts of the murmuring crowd, trying to spot familiar faces. She saw Senju Ryoshima, the Senju clan head, Senju Kimiko, her staff instructor as well as two chunin, one an Uchiha, the other a Senju, who were a part of the Research Department. But that was it in a room of well over a hundred people.

There was no sign of Sasuke or Naruto.

Suddenly everyone began to sit down. A lance of fear shot through Sakura as she imagined etiquette that she was unaware of causing her to make an embarrassing mistake.

She did her best to observe the surrounding ninja, finding no such thing, and sat down in a random spot. The crowd was arranged in a circle that sloped down towards the center. A large stone, rectangular stage rose up from the middle.

Upon it, Ryoshima and Fugaku, the clan heads, stood as they began the ceremony.

Fugaku spoke first. "Thank you everyone for joining us. Especially to our familial clans, for today we celebrate family. Our sister clan, the Hyuuga, welcome Hiashi-dono." Fugaku said, gesturing to a balcony, where the aforementioned Hyuuga sat. He was sitting next to Naruto's mother, Sakura saw. In the balcony below, she found Naruto, sitting next to Hinata and her sister in formal looking clothes. "And of course," Fugaku continued, "the Uzumaki. Kushina-hime, welcome." The redhead waved merrily, blowing a kiss at him as the crowd chuckled.

"Ours is a history wrought with struggle, love, conflict, and pain," Ryoshima continued. The older man's spiky, graying brown hair shifted as he looked over the crowd sternly. "Our bonds are hard won, and we take this time to remember them once more."

Without further ado, they left the stage.

Suddenly, the hall darkened, shades drawn above as torches were extinguished. Tiny pinpricks of light spread out over the ceiling.

It was nighttime. From the center of the stage, perfectly rectangular stones came into existence, rising silently from the ground.

A woman was there as well. Sakura recognized her as Ryoshima's wife, Senju Sayuri née Uchiha. And she was crying. She knelt behind a stone, a gravestone, in the center of the field of such stones as her anguish washed over the crowd. Sakura shifted in discomfort as the elderly woman mourned. It went on for longer than Sakura expected.

And it seemed in the time she was there the number of graves had expanded, more rising up to surround her until the stage and floor around it was covered in them.

A signal horn blew as drums began to beat. The lights changed focusing on the graves instead of the woman as she slipped behind the stage. The gravestones spun to reveal their inscriptions. Each in the field of graves bore the crest of one of the two clans. Senju. Uchiha. Senju. Uchiha. Senju. Uchiha. The graveyard bore the weight of their failures.

The stone in front of the woman in the center didn't turn.

As all the stones sunk back into the ground, the music picked up pace, accompanied by the thumping of drums as the Uchiha came into view. They were wearing armor reminiscent of the Warring Clans era.

As one they traced through kata signature to their style of taijutsu, interspersed with displays of shuriken and fire jutsu. Sakura found Sasuke there, sending a stream of fire into the air with his clan.

Just as their display was about to reach its peak, a different horn blew and the Senju appeared, taking up the other half of the stage as the Uchiha's side darkened.

The Senju displayed their kenjutsu, axes, spears and blades glowing with chakra as they brought them down with a crash. A jutsu from each element streaked up into the sky, the music suddenly sifting as the Uchiha's side brightened once more. Two sides, too powerful to remain to themselves.

The sudden dissonance was reflected in the music, the drums beating and war horns blowing, until finally the two groups faced each other.

From them pairs emerged, one Senju and one Uchiha lined up through the center of the stage until they came to the Clan heads. They were armed and facing each other as the music fell to silence. Then, they drew their weapons and the music began to swell once more.

She saw Sasuke, dressed in similar armor, standing across from Noriko. He held a chokuto while she held a standard katana.

As when they were separate, the pairs traced through choreographed motions, fighting against each other, their blades clanking together with the beats of the music as they slashed and spun. After a flurry, they would retreat as the music fell and meet again in a swell of sound and movement.

Sasuke and Noriko pulled back. Then, the pace picked up again.

They met once more in the middle, cold steel whizzing past each other in display of skill and trust. Then, almost by accident, Sasuke's chokuto stabbed too close to her ear, a shallow cut opening. Sakura's attention was suddenly drawn to them as the girl's face contorted in a hiss of pain, and they retreated.

The music swelled.

They met again, faster than before. Sakura watched as Noriko slashed her sword too close to Sasuke's arm, a cut opening to match her own in a tiny spray of blood. Sasuke glared at her and she shrugged her shoulders imperceptibly as if to say "whoops." Sakura didn't believe her and neither, it seemed, did Sasuke as they met once more in a blur of motion. He cut across her shoulder as Noriko almost immediately after cut into his stomach. Sakura's heart picked up. If Sasuke hadn't pulled back...that could have been a fatal blow. And if Noriko hadn't turned...

They met again with less pretense and increasing ferocity, the music long forgotten as cuts opened up between them.

The next time they met, Noriko stabbed forward toward his throat immediately. Sakura's heart nearly stopped. It was too close to block!

Sakura felt herself rising, her mind calculating if she would be able to make it, how long against the time for ischemia to-

A hand held her shoulder firm as Sasuke ducked his chin at the last second. A deep cut ripping open. Deep, but not life threatening.

She turned back to see Naruto, he gently pushed her back down as he slid in next to her. "Don't worry," he whispered, "it's still all planned out, even if it looks real."

Sakura felt the swell of embarrassment fill her as she became aware of all of the other pairs, similarly bloodied, but with no fatal wounds in sight. The music fell and rose again.

But why? This was barbaric.

Naruto sensed her confusion. "It's like a trust thing and a...history thing? Sasu-chan and the little viper don't kill each other even though they're pretending to be old timey people who want to kill each other." His brow scrunched up. "And even though they're pretending to not be old timey people too? Like, er..."

Sakura understood as Sasuke's face contorted in anger and Noriko smirked evilly, lashing out as one to the other's unguarded vitals with abandon. They would have died together.

They stopped just before the blows landed clean. Each pair had. One by one, they pulled back to sheath their weapons in tune with the music up the line until it came to Fugaku and Ryoshima. A stone had risen between them, the same gravestone from the start, but the clan heads did not sheath their weapons, staring tensely at each other.

The stone before them spun to the audience, clean and unmarked.

The performers turned and bowed as the stage darkened.

"There's an intermission now for healing everyone up before they keep going." It would prevent any scarring, Sakura thought, and was obvious in retrospect.

"Can I help?" She finally asked.

Naruto smiled. "Of course! You're like the best medic ever."

Together, they made their way down toward the stage. Sasuke nodded to them as they approached. One of the other medics nodded to her graciously. Sakura got to work.

Her hands glowed green as she healed his wounds. "Thanks," he grunted out. She smiled back at him.

Noriko was watching them from the side with her arms crossed as Sakura finished. Sakura turned around. "Would you like me to heal you?"

Noriko's lips thinned, but she didn't say no, so Sakura healed her as well. "Thank you," Noriko said once she was done. Then, she grumbled and said, "And, I'm sorry...if I was ever mean to you."

Sakura was taken aback. "Oh, well...Thank you, Noriko. You're very kind."

The dark haired girl threw her teammates a petulant look and stalked off. Sakura turned quizzically towards them as Naruto rushed forward.

"Aww!" He called out, "you do have a heart!" He proceeded to chase Noriko around the hall for a hug.

Sakura glanced to Sasuke. "You said something to her."

"Of course not," he said as his eyes followed the chase. Naruto was trying to scoop her up in a bear hug as she struggled to get away.

"Sasuke," a different voice said, "it is about time to resume."

The Uchiha glanced up at Ryoshima. "If you say so." He nodded to Sakura, gesturing vaguely to keep Naruto in line as he left.

Ryoshima turned to leave as well before suddenly turning back.

"Sakura," he said. Sakura's eyes widened as she stood at attention. "What are you doing here?"

The question took a moment to process. _What?_ "I'm here for the ceremony," she said slowly.

"Hm. I don't recall inviting you."

And there it was. Her stomach clenched uncomfortably as the implicit was made explicit. Thick indignation rose up in her throat. Senju didn't need invitations.

"I didn't realize I needed an explicit invitation from you, Ryoshima-sama."

He had already begun to turn away, returning to the stage without a second glance. She stepped forward after him.

"And," Sakura said her voice rising, "would you have even extended one? If I'd asked?"

He paused, turning around to look at her. His wrinkled face was pinched in distaste and Sakura felt the urge to flick her pink hair in the wind. Finally, "No. You lack sufficient exceptionalism to impress the Senju. But, if you're already here, well, feel free to remain. Now, if you'll excuse me."

The young Senju watched him leave, her eyes dark as the hall began to quiet down and people searched for their seats. Her jaw clenched. "Good thing I didn't need to ask then."

Naruto returned, smiling. He cocked his head to the side. "Huh, where'd Sasuke go?

Sakura's eyes softened as she glanced at him. "The ceremony's about to start again?" Surely, he could tell?

His eyes widened. "Oh, shit, I've gotta get back! My mom will totally kill me." He made a move to leave before pausing and glancing at her as if to weigh whether or not to stay regardless.

She shook her head in exasperation. "Go, Naruto. Don't get in trouble."

He smiled and raced back towards the balcony.

* * *

For Hinata, the beginning of the Clan Ceremony was spent twiddling her thumbs, swaying back and forth ever so slightly.

Her mind was full of possibilities.

It wasn't the right time, she decided. She couldn't talk to him, she decided. It would be terrible, she decided.

Still, she glanced constantly at the bright-eyed blonde beside her. He looked bored, barely paying attention to the ceremony as it started. He might appreciate a distraction, a conversation.

She flinched back from the idea.

Still, it whispered tantalizingly to her and she shivered, wanting so much to believe.

Beside her, her sister, Hanabi, turned to look at her inquisitively. Hinata hung her head. No doubt the younger girl could see all the weaknesses and indecisiveness that filled her and resolved to be superior in this way as well. Every day, it seemed, more incredulous disappointment was added to the little girl's eyes.

Hinata turned back towards the warmth.

He was paying more attention now as the performers traced through their starting motions. He was sticking his tongue out and making weird faces. The Uchiha he was directing them at—Sasuke, she thought—remained unfazed.

Naruto huffed, sliding back into his seat. Then, he turned, meeting her eyes and offering a sheepish grin at his antics.

It was the best start to a conversation Hinata could hope for, an open invitation to all of the fantastical possibilities she'd imagined.

"Eep!" She squeaked turning away as her face burned. All the while, she berated herself for the action. And, glancing back at Naruto, she knew it was the wrong thing to do. He looked equal parts confused and put off by her weirdness.

Hinata pulled in tighter on herself, praying desperately for her comfortable jacket instead of the formal kimono that she wore.

Weapons were drawn on stage.

Then, as if remembering he left the stove on, Naruto popped out of his seat and slipped down the stairs.

Gone.

She saw him join Sakura below. More pleasant company, she was sure.

His absence hurt more than anything else thus far. She had failed, truly, spectacularly. She hadn't talked to him. At worst, she had insulted him. At best, she had made an utter fool of herself.

Most of all, she hadn't tried. Like so many times before, she had let her fear rule her. She hadn't done better. She hadn't spoken up. She hadn't believed. She had been a failure, a loser, a disappointment.

But, through the darkness of her thoughts, a voice whispered to her: I don't give up, it said. I stand by what I say, it said. I never go back on my word, it said.

It was her voice, she knew, whispered to herself in the dead of night and early morning, a mantra that she wanted so desperately to live by.

Next time, she promised herself, next time she would talk to him. Next time, she would do better.

Yes.

It was much easier to say these things now that he was far away.

The scene from the ceremony eventually ended. It was a bloody affair, leaving Hinata quietly uncomfortable. It was not the correct emotion, she knew.

She was shocked when Naruto returned to his seat beside her. She had assumed he would spend the rest of the ceremony with Sakura.

That meant next time was...now.

She had made a promise. Now was her chance. She didn't go back on her word...!

But Hinata was too aware of how difficult it was, too aware of her heart beating out of her chest and her face flushing red, too aware of her father, too still and too perceptive, judging her from above. Her sister practically rolled her eyes beside her.

Hinata wanted to say something.

Hinata twiddled her thumbs nervously, paralyzed with fear of the path laid out before her.

"We're not supposed to leave our seats, you know," Hanabi's disapproving voice said cutting through Hinata's thoughts.

Naruto regarded her lazily. "So?"

"You broke the rules." When he didn't respond, she continued, "That's not good."

"Eh," Naruto said, his characteristic smile returning to his face, "Rules were meant to be broken. Besides, I came right back." Hanabi did not look convinced as she glared. "Jeez, relax, little Hyuuga. It's no big deal."

"My name is Hyuuga Hanabi and you will address me as such," Hanabi said, demanding respect from the declaration just as their father had taught them. Then, almost as an afterthought, "And you already know my sister."

Naruto looked amused. "Oh, it's _Hanabi_ ," he said drawing the word out. He chuckled. "Well then, little Hanabi, remind me to never introduce you to a little viper." He shook his head with a rueful smile. Then, "Hey, Hinata, how've you been?"

It took Hinata a second to process what she'd heard. She flinched, but managed to keep herself from squeaking. "Ah, um, h-hi, Naruto..." She glanced up at him. His eyes were bright and kind, with a tinge of concern behind them. There was no trace of the anger and disgust she'd expected. For a moment, she was lost, staring into them, before remembering the rest of the question. "I-I-I'm well."

Her fingers pressed together.

"Sweet! You're on a team with Kiba and...err," he trailed off.

"Shino?"

"Yeah, right! How's that? Kiba must be a total pain, the mutt," he chuckled, "and, Shino must be, er, however Shino is."

"It's good?" She said. He smiled back in acceptance. "I'm l-lucky to be on a team with them." Nothing terrible had happened yet, Hinata observed, so she continued, "Y-y-you are on a team with S-Sakura and Sasuke, r-right?"

"Oh yeah, that's great! Sasuke's a loveable ass and Sakura's just loveable! We get along great, kicking ass and taking names! Oh and our sensei, of course, he's the worst! I mean he's not as bad as I thought he was, but he's still pretty bad, you know? He loves beating us up and making up ways to beat us up..." His voice trailed off. "He's actually in the hospital right now though."

Hinata knew that. Everyone did. "I know. I'm sorry."

He shook his head, shrugging it off.

"I-I-I-Is it true that you k-k-killed S-Sasori of the Red Sand?" She stuttered out quickly. She could hardly believe the rumors of Team 7's ill-fated mission. Could she dare to imagine her idol overcoming S-Rank threats?

Naruto perked back up with a grin. "Well, I don't want to brag or anything," he started, "but, yeah! Pretty much!"

Hinata gaped at him, starstruck. _Amazing._

Naruto's hand found the back of his head as he laughed it off. "Nah, not really. Obito-sensei actually did most of the fighting, but we helped out a little bit, I guess. Came back alive and all that. We better have for how much Obito-sensei slapped us around." He shook his head. "Is your sensei like that?" He asked incredulously.

"Oh no, Kurenai-sensei is very kind," she started, "even when-" She cut herself off turning away from the blonde slightly. "E-even w-when I make mistakes on m-missions." Her eyes closed for a moment. "She is very kind."

Naruto shot her a sympathetic look, but Hanabi beat him to it. "Well, don't give up, onee-chan. _Never_ give up," she said and Hinata could hear the slight mockery in her voice now. "Never go back on your word," she chimed.

Naruto looked at her with surprise. "That's what I was gonna say, little Hanabi! Who taught you that?"

"Oh, my sister says it all the time," Hanabi continued as Hinata's blood ran cold. "Don't give up. I stand by what I say. That's my _nindo_." The mockery was in full force now; Hanabi, young though she was, needed no such crutch to cling to.

 _No,_ Hinata thought despondently. Naruto was looking at her and he must have known, must now see her as obsessive, pathetic, weak, unworthy-

"No shit?" He said in surprise. "That's my nindo too! That makes us like nindo siblings?" Hinata sputtered beside him. "Nah, wait, like...whatever, it's pretty fucking cool! I never knew that about you, Hinata."

Hinata made some more unintelligible sounds, her face a bright red. She stayed like that for a long time, trying and failing to speak.

"Uh...is she feeling okay?"

"Oh, I'm sure she's just fine."

"Okay?"

And that was the last they spoke, the ceremony beginning once more.

* * *

In the dark of the night, two figures emerged, armed. Sakura recognized them as the respective clan heads wearing armor ceremonial to each clan.

Ryoshima and Fugaku stared down at each other, their hands clasping their weapons as they stood before the unmarked gravestone.

But they did not attack.

As one in an unspoken agreement, they reached up, unstrapping their armor, thick chestplates falling to the ground, Then arm guards, leg guards, on and on it went, the protection clanking to the floor in unison. The pace increased with each item removed, with less care shown for the valuable, ceremonial armor.

The frenetic pace finished in a blur of angry motion until each had only their swords at their sides, in their hands, at each other's throats. The scabbards clanged to the ground as they clutched the blades. Then, slowly, they raised their hands, drawing them along the sharp edge of the other's blade. Thick droplets of blood fell to the ground, joining those of the previous fighting. The blades as well fell together with a crash.

Two bloody hands clasped together.

And the clan roared in approval. Then, as one their hands traced through seals. _Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger._ They spun towards the center of the stage where the rock sat. Flames engulfed and destroyed it in an instant and the clan roared in approval once more.

The rock was broken and melted, hot slag seeping through the floor. It spread out from the center, filling in the pattern that had been prepared for it, fueled no doubt by stagehands in the background. There was a palpable tension in the air, a longing, as the symbol beneath them came fully into view.

Sakura felt a chill work its way down her spine as the Rinnegan glowed up at her and the crowd held its breath as one.

The clan heads walked until they stood back to back in the center of that symbol, their hands still dripping with blood. Concentric circles spread out from the center, where the blood of the Senju and Uchiha had mixed. The greatest gift, born from the cooperation of bitter enemies.

Sakura, like her clansmen around her, couldn't help wondering if these clan heads would develop the great and terrible power of the First and Second Hokage.

Other people had streamed back onto the stage, clan members from both clans. Where once they stood against each other, now they moved together in sequence warding off some unseen enemy. The crowd cheered once more.

The combined power of Uchiha Madara and Senju Tobirama had gifted each with the most perfect kekkai genkai known. It had happened much like this at the graveyard of Senju Hashirama, the village's Founder. Sworn enemies had pooled their power together in an attempt to accomplish the impossible, and heaven had rewarded them.

This, the power of cooperation and brotherhood, had led them through the First Shinobi World War.

At least, that was how the story went. Historians questioned when exactly they had acquired this power or whether it was even Madara's eyes that Tobirama had implanted. Because how could he when Madara still had his own eyes? Did they just grow back?

Regardless, a Senju with the eyes of an Uchiha and an Uchiha with the life force of a Senju gave birth to the Rinnegan.

Many times over the years as the clans integrated and before, people had tried to replicate the incredible feat. The lack of Rinnegan in the village demonstrated the lack of results.

These days the practice was all but abandoned for its many costly failures. Implanted sharingan eyes never worked as well as they did for their owner, consuming more chakra and unable to progress in ability. Transferring cells from the Senju to the Uchiha might confer an extra elemental affinity or chakra capacity, but it was even more problematic as loss of chakra control, rampant cancerous growths, and immune system rejection were common and potentially fatal.

Still, the hope was there, the roaring voices ever ready for that power to appear in the village for a fourth time.

Sakura understood now. As the clan thumped and roared and the molten rock seeped through the floor in that terrifying pattern, she understood her brother's hesitation. The Rinnegan was more than a symbol of friendly cooperation.

It was a symbol of power.

And with it came the promise of war. The war they craved and the war she knew well to fear.

* * *

"As you all know, this year Konohagakure will be sponsoring the upcoming Chunin Exams."

Sakumo spoke before the assembly of Jonin-sensei. Asuma and Kurenai were at the front with many others spilling out behind them.

"The Four Great Shinobi Villages have consulted with the daimyo of the relevant lands. Finally, it has been decided that the exams will be held...in the Land of Hot Springs."

There was a small commotion as the assembled Jonin digested the information. All thing considered, it was good news. The Land of Hot Springs was a wealthy country thanks to its vibrant tourist industry. The Chunin exams, in addition to being a proving ground for genin and substitute for war, was also a chance for the villages to attract the interest of the spectators, especially the host daimyo.

It was also well-known that the shinobi village that sponsored the exam had an advantage over other competitors. That village would submit the rules of the exams for approval.

"As always, the importance of these exams must not be understated, we want a good showing throughout the dangers that await. This is especially important for future business in the Land of Hot Spring and beyond."

There were some complicated details Sakumo needed to take care of as well.

This was not the isolated Chunin Exams of the past. Both allies and enemies would meet in a neutral country to prove themselves worthy. It was meant to be a substitute for war. But how effective it might truly be...

Impressive showings before the lords and ladies in attendance and around the world shifted the delicate balance of power. It meant everyone had a sense of just who was dangerous.

Nations of all sizes would send their top competitors. And, while Kiri, Kumo, Suna and Konoha were the largest nations, by sheer variety, they would be outnumbered by the numerous minor ninja villages, such as those that had once made up the Alliance in the previous war.

There was one minor village outside of that particular group which gave Sakumo pause. As Hokage, it was his duty to safeguard the village's interests. And he would.

Scanning the faces of the jonin, he knew what to do. Gai looked back at him with the telltale hints of excitement, no doubt eager to recommend his team.

"Any Genin who have completed the requisite 8 missions may apply. We'll start with-"

The doors opened abruptly.

"'Scuse me, sorry, sorry, 'scuse me, whoopsie!" Obito zig-zagged through the crowd to cause the most disruption.

Finally, Obito found himself near the front. He was still on crutches and had almost certainly snuck out of the hospital again. His face was drawn in. His movements still lacked their normal fluidity. He should have been in bed.

Kurenai shot him an irritated look. He shrunk back suddenly.

"Ahh," he shouted, falling as if struck, "genjutsu...my only...weakness."

"I-"

"Please, no!" His eyes were wide with fear.

"I didn't-

Then, he stopped abruptly, sitting up. "Wait a _minute_ ," A couple of the jonin chuckled. "I'm great against genjutsu! And it's not like you'd use one on an Uchiha." Then after a pause. "Well, not again."

"That was _one_ _time_ -"

"Enough," Sakumo intervened. Then, he turned to the Uchiha. "Obito, stop it."

He smiled back, his eyes full of mirth. "Of course, Hokage-sama. I'll be good."

Sakumo sighed. He was incorrigible.

Yet, beneath his silliness and bravado, he had a good heart. Sakumo still remembered how distraught he had been after the Eclipse, so lost. But Sakumo knew that it was that pain which had shaped him into the man and ninja he was today. Through it, he had rallied into a force with which to be reckoned.

He had made Sakumo proud.

And he had earned the respect of his fellow Jonin on the battlefield.

Sky Country was no more.

"As I was saying, we'll start with the least senior genin teams first..."

* * *

Obito woke abruptly.

He was once again laying in the soft confines of his hospital bed. He was still recovering, but he was nearly strong enough to actually be released.

There was a steady _beep beep_ in the background, evidence to his beating heart if not its safety. He stretched out with his senses, his eyes remaining closed despite his wakefulness, and his suspicions were quickly confirmed.

He wasn't alone.

His visitor broke the silence. "Let's not stand on ceremony, old friend."

Obito opened his eyes and scowled. "You don't have friends, Danzo."

Danzo smiled thinly. "Partners then."

There was a pause. "Why now?"

Danzo tapped the cane he had no use for on the ground. "We've been ready for quite some time. However, you have been closely watched of late. Certain eyes were upon you; Sasori's people, it seems," Danzo lifted his cane to poke at Obito's IV tube, "And he was quite thorough." There was a pause. "Although, you managed to survive."

Obito didn't respond, waiting for him to get to the point.

"Such a close brush with death," Danzo continued, "Perhaps, it...affected your view on things."

And there it was. A challenge. Suspicion. It was spoken lightheartedly, but whether it was truly so or just another layer of deception was anyone's guess. Obito wasn't anyone.

He was no one.

"Only in this," the Uchiha intoned, "time is of the essence, let us begin."

Then, in an instant, they were gone.

* * *

 **A/N: Bleh, that still took longer than I thought it would.**

 **And there's a part of me feels that maybe I should have left the chapters together anyway :P. I don't know. It's a little short, but I think it should be okay. As always, thanks for reading!**

 **Also, I feel I have to mention the Indra/Ashura stuff from canon. It doesn't exist in this story (nor anything involving Kaguya). This is because it was stupid. That is all.**

 **Thanks again!**


	8. The Task At Hand

**The Task at Hand**

* * *

 _Thus, the three year old Sakura was adopted._

 _Her_ family _brought her to their—her—house in a large compound with so many wonderful people. She had a new room all her own and toys and_ books.

 _She even had a new name._

 _Senju. Senju Sakura. She really liked it!_

 _But she was worried too. What if she did something wrong? What if they changed their minds?_

 _She knocked quietly on the door._

 _"Come in, Sakura-chan," her new_ brother _said to her. She entered. He was wearing a brown shirt with a ninjato on his back. A black Senju insignia poked out from behind it. Ken was packing, not because he was leaving forever, her new_ mother _had assured her, but because he was a ninja._

 _She shuffled in nervously. She wanted to be a good girl, polite like the matron of the orphanage had always told them. She didn't want anything to go wrong!_

 _Ken suddenly stopped packing. "Is something wrong, Sakura-chan?" He asked gently as if not to scare her off._

 _"...Why did you pick me?" Because maybe, if she knew, she would be able to make sure they kept picking her._

 _"Ah," Ken said. His eyes stared off into the distance. He resumed packing, closing up his pack and strapping his headband around his forehead._

 _Sakura ducked her head down as she tried to stay as quiet and unobtrusive as possible. Then she felt a hand on her tiny shoulder. She looked up into Ken's soft, grey eyes._

 _He smiled sadly. Then, he said, "You only wanted love."_

 _He gave her shoulder a small squeeze and walked past her out the door._

* * *

Sasuke skirted through the clones, his eyes shifting rapidly from side to side as he read their movements. He spun slicing through two that shot towards him from either side, palming and releasing a barrage of shuriken in the same motion.

Naruto deflected them with a _Pressure Break_ , but released it quickly. His clothes were already singed and bloody from his mistaken attempt to bully a fire user with wind jutsu.

 _Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Flower!_

The smaller fireballs shot toward Naruto, crashing through the clones he used to defend himself. Meanwhile, other clones tried to attack Sasuke, but he flipped through them easily, shooting more fireballs that crashed around the blonde, lighting the forest ablaze.

Then, he pulled, the shuriken hidden in the flames flying back and around, wrapping Naruto tight to a tree with wires.

Two kunai cracked next to Naruto's forehead almost as soon as he'd been caught, the first splitting the bark as it dug into the tree and the second clanging into the first, pushing it down to the hilt.

That was another victory for him then.

The remaining clones slowed to a stop but didn't disperse. Sasuke threw another kunai. It clanged into the handle of the first as well, the sharp, deadly blade deflecting past Naruto's face as it dug the knife in a little deeper. Naruto flinched.

So Sasuke threw another.

And another. And another.

Naruto flinched each time. It made sense. If Sasuke was a little bit off on his aim...well, who knew what might have happened out here in the lonely woods?

Sasuke smirked.

 _Clang! Clang!_

Finally, Naruto yelled. "Argh- _clang!_ -stop it!- _clang!_ " The clones dispersed in a great puff of smoke.

Sasuke threw another kunai just because.

"Goddammit, you bastard! Let me go!"

"Naruto-chan," he said as he spun the next kunai on his finger, "you're pouting."

The kunai split the wires that had trapped the blonde. Naruto was panting hard as he landed on the ground on all fours but still found the energy to grumble to himself as he rose slowly. They headed for the clearing.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Naruto said as they walked, leaving the charred forest behind. His voice was heavy with exhaustion.

"If by 'an asshole,' you mean 'better than me', then, yes, I do."

Naruto tackled him and they rolled out into the clearing. Sasuke choked out a noise of surprise as they landed, but Naruto was tired and beat up already. Sasuke was tired too, but he pushed Naruto off easily, flipping up to his feet in a combat stance. Naruto rolled near the tree line but didn't get up. He just stared upwards, panting towards the sky.

"That one didn't count," he said through labored breaths.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he retrieved their packs. He sat down against a tree near the blonde.

"Here."

Naruto took his water bottle gratefully, sliding up to sit against the same tree as he guzzled his water down greedily. Sasuke took a long swig from his own bottle.

"But you were totally enjoying that," Naruto said as he finished, "That's like textbook sadism. I'm adding that to the list. Asshole, bastard, smug, arrogant, _sadist_. Smug asshole, sadistic b-."

"Loser," Sasuke said as he stopped drinking. "That's what you are. And you're sore about it too. Poor baby." He drank some more.

"Shut up!"

"Make me, loser."

They sat like that as the sun rose over the horizon, painting the sky a gentle orange and then blue as it rose higher and higher. Birds chirped as they flew past, greeting the new day.

"I got it," Sasuke said finally, "the report."

"Yeah, I know." There was a pause. "What did it say?"

"'While chakra absorption techniques make it impossible to determine the number of ninja present, high-level usage is indicative of the minor villages Darkness, Pine, and Rain.'" Sasuke quoted. "A single line in the whole damn thing, but it's a _lead_. I know where to start."

Naruto blew his breath out noisily. "Damn, that's great, but...I mean, we can't storm a Hidden Village. Not until we're like Obito's age!"

Sasuke watched him warily before shaking his head. "I wasn't going to. Information gathering is first. There are always rumors, hints, clues. I just have to be able to get there to investigate. And I'll find _something._ I know it."

"So...how-"

"Chunin have both more autonomy while leading missions and the ability to request vacation time after difficult missions."

This sort of thing wasn't what either of those were supposed to be used for, but Sasuke was quite far past caring about that.

Naruto nodded slowly. Then he smiled, "So we're going to the Chunin Exams?"

"We better. I'll get promoted and use th-"

"We'll get promoted and go looking for clues for Itachi! We'll find him and drag his butt back here no matter what! Dattebayo!"

Sasuke was taken aback slightly at the sudden shift in mood, the surge of confidence rising around him. He wanted to say no, to explain the solitary journey, that this had to be for him.

"You're my brothers too," Naruto said.

The weight of his declaration silenced the Uchiha. Under some or most definitions, they might as well be planning treason—pursuing their own agenda instead of that of the village. Even if they planned to go through proper channels or handle it better once they acquired information, well...

There was a chance that they would have to act. A chance that they would have an opportunity to rescue Itachi without proper authorization. There was a chance Sasuke would have to become a missing-nin to achieve his goal.

He didn't want to, of course, but...if he had to, he'd risk it.

And, sitting next to Naruto as the sun sparkled through the trees, he knew he wouldn't have to be alone.

* * *

Something was different. That's what Naruto had concluded as Team 7 stood together in the training ground they had taken the Bell Test in. The crystal blue stream reflected the clear sky above, the trees rustled gently in the wind.

Naruto couldn't put his finger on the difference.

Obito was waiting for them in the clearing smiling brightly. That was certainly different and couldn't be good. "Hopefully, you haven't been slacking off in my absence!" He exclaimed. "Regardless, it's time to get back on the horse for real!"

Naruto didn't react. Sasuke's arms were crossed beside him as Sakura watched Obito with a sad look on her face.

They just stared at him until Obito's bouncy persona was slowly replaced by a more serious and placating one.

"Yes?" He asked genially.

Naruto found himself glancing toward Sakura, who stepped forward towards Obito. "We're glad you're back, sensei. Um, how are you?"

"Tiptop shape!" Obito said, flexing comically. "Some people get injured, other are good enough not to, and others still can walk it off."

"That's not what your charts say," Sasuke grunted out beside him.

Obito dropped out of his pose, momentarily confused, before spinning on their pink-haired teammate. "Oh, that's very naughty, Sakura-chan," he said, wagging his finger back and forth, "sharing other people's medical information like that. Shame on you!"

She didn't flinch and the team continued to stare at him. Obito gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Well," he said in a faux-lecture, "peripheral nerves are peripheral for a reason. And if livers grow back," he gestured for Sakura to confirm and she nodded hesitantly, "Exactly, if they grow back, who cares for a bit of damage?" He continued over Sakura's objections, "A few scars won't be enough to close the gap between you three and me! That's what training is for."

He chuckled, but his eyes drifted towards the trees. His lighthearted demeanor slowly fell away. "But...thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you. I don't think I would have survived. Having done all that, young as you are, I hope you're not actually guilty for not doing more." He looked at the sky. "Not yet."

They looked away that time. Naruto's head rose, his eyes meeting Obito's. The Uchiha grinned. Naruto took two large strides forward to bump into him with a hug. There was a quiet _oomph_ from Obito before Naruto felt a hand on his head. "There, there, little naru-chan, there, there."

Naruto pulled back at the taunts. Obito was still grinning, and Naruto tried to punch him in the gut. It whizzed through his stomach with ease.

Naruto knew it would. And that was okay.

That was what was different, Naruto decided: he knew his sensei was pretending.

" _Well_ ," Obito continued, "Now with that all over and done with." He pulled out three forms. "I signed you up for the Chunin Exams!"

 _Wait, what?_ Naruto thought. "Yes!" He exclaimed. "Really? No way! Woohoo!"

There was a satisfied nod from Sasuke as Naruto turned to him. Sakura seemed momentarily taken aback. Then, something came over her face and she smiled. Naruto grinned back at her.

Oh yeah, Team 7 was ready, and this was going to be awesome.

* * *

Sakumo quickly and carefully reviewed the document in front of him before signing it. He was finalizing the last preparations necessary before he traveled to the Land of Hot Springs. The village would get along without him just fine, he knew.

The leader of the sponsoring nation gave a speech at the conclusion of the second stage of the exam, explaining the nature of the test and congratulating the careful few who had survived thus far. It was mostly for publicity, cultivating good relationships with those watching, and to begin highlighting the best of the villages competing.

He would have to meet with the daimyo once he arrived and then again just before the finals as well.

It was all about relationships, and it wasn't the only relationship he would have to manage carefully. He pulled out a message from the Mizukage. The Raikage's sat in a small pile to his left.

Sakumo thought for a moment. Then, he began to write.

* * *

They left the patient's room, disinfecting their hands as was routine as Ken checked the schedule for their next patient. They headed in that direction.

"A rookie team," he said, shaking his head in disbelief, "in the Chunin Exams? That sounds-"

"Impressive," Sakura replied.

Ken gave her a look filled with concern and incredulity, and, somehow, she could tell that wasn't what he was going to say.

* * *

The next week was spent entirely training. Despite his declarations, Obito went easier on them than previously. It was less about beating them into shape and more about cleaning up their fundamentals.

Which seemed to imply that Obito had taught them fundamentals in the first place. He certainly seemed to think he had.

"What type of team are you?" He had interrogated them.

The answer was field assault. Obviously.

What did that mean for them?

"You own the battlefield one way or another. Some use summons, others use area affect ninjutsu, but always the defining feature is in finding control of the battlefield. Thus, even outmatched in pure strength, the battle happens on your terms, and you have a chance at success."

That was a fancy way to instruct them to keep doing what they were already doing. Teamwork. Watch each other's back. Add clones liberally.

"Be ready for war and you'll come out on top."

The days went quickly, and before Naruto knew it, they were waiting at the gate, packed and ready to travel to the Land of Hot Springs

Naruto twitched. "Where is he?!"

Sakura smiled tiredly. "Are you really surprised? Just be patient, I'm sure-"

"Argh, screw patience! Obito-sensei! Obito-sensei, I know you're out there! Show up already!"

"Ugh," Shikamaru said as Team 10 arrived, "is he going to be like this the whole time?"

"Probably," Sasuke grunted out, eyeing Ino warily. She blew him a kiss and he turned away.

"Don't worry," Asuma said as he clapped Shikamaru's shoulder. "Team 8 will be here soon."

"Chip?" Choji asked, cutting the blonde off. Naruto chewed it angrily before returning to his yelling.

Ino sauntered over to Sakura. "I'm surprised you decided to show up, Forehead," she sneered.

"Funny, I was going to say the same to you, Ino-pig!"

Naruto's yells increased in volume. Ino flicked her hair in the wind. "Ha! Please, I would-I-I would-would you shut up!?" Ino yelled. Naruto turned to look at her. "Your sensei's probably staying away from your big mouth. You're so annoying!"

Naruto glared at her. "Bite me, Ino-pig." He turned back, opening his mouth to yell when his neck prickled uncomfortably. He glanced back to see Ino glaring cold as ice as Sasuke shook his head exasperatedly from behind. Everyone else was as still and silent as a statue.

Naruto swallowed uncomfortably.

"What did you call me?" Ino asked sweetly.

"Uh-uh-uh-I-uh, b-but...um, um, Sakura and she... _help_."

"You shouldn't say things like that about a girl, Naruto," Sakura interjected. Naruto nodded frantically in agreement as Ino advanced.

A different voice laughed boisterously. "About to get owned by a girl? Nice, Naruto."

"Fuck you, Kiba," he said. Team 8 had arrived, Kiba leading the charge with Kurenai, Hinata, and Shino bringing up the rear. The tension in Ino's eyes broke as she resumed ignoring him.

"You are totally a pig, though," Sakura muttered.

"What the hell was that, Forehead?!"

Kurenai smiled at Asuma. "Looks like everyone's here. Ah, except for...Obito."

"He can teleport anywhere." Asuma said reaching for a new cigarette, "Not like we actually have to wait for him."

"It's polite. Besides, it wouldn't be right with his genin right here."

"Nah, screw them," Obito said as he appeared in a sudden swirl, "they're big boys. There's even a girl too!"

"Obito," Kurenai scolded him.

"What? They're the worst." Naruto flipped him off while Sasuke rolled his eyes. "And I'm sure they'd be _fine_."

"You're here anyway," Asuma grunted out.

Obito took a moment to consider. "Hm, true." He shrugged. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

With that, they set out. They walked long after the village disappeared behind them. The sun dropped to the horizon. The occasional conversation accompanied their journey.

"It won't matter when we win the whole thing! Right, Akamaru?" Kiba shouted. Akamaru barked in agreement.

Sasuke scoffed. "You talk too much."

"Yeah, what are you going to do about it, Uchiha? Come on, I'll fight you right now!"

Sasuke met his eyes. "You'd lose."

"And I'd beat both of you with both my arms tied behind my back!" Naruto chimed in. Sasuke glared at him. "Buuuut, since Sasuke and I are on the same team, you're the one who's shit out of luck for the exams, Kiba."

"Please," he countered, "we'd run circles around you. Team 8 is going to win the whole thing."

"Well? Aren't you going to say something?!" Ino yelled at Shikamaru. A long-suffering sigh was his only response.

Kiba laughed at her. "Ha, they know who's top dog around here." Akamaru howled.

Ino harrumphed, but then her eyes found Sasuke. "Well, I'm sure _you'll_ do great at least, Sasuke-kun. If anyone has a chance to win, it's you." He just scowled at her.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Of course, you'd say that. That doesn't count. Shino, what do you think? Are we gonna win?"

"What?" Naruto interjected. "He's on your team! That's not fair."

"Pssh, Shino's neutral."

"I cannot know for sure. Why? Because the skills of our fellow rookies and the upcoming tests are unknown. I can only say with high confidence from my experience that Team 8 is ready for the Exams."

"Boom," Kiba said.

"What? He didn't say anything!" Ino yelled.

Kiba smirked. "That's how Shino, says 'suck it, losers!'"

"Enough," Kurenai intervened. "Petty squabbling is not becoming of Konoha shinobi. The Exams will be difficult for all of you. You should be thinking about how you will succeed instead of arguing about it."

"You won't have any friends in the exams," Asuma added. "Don't expect any village, even ones Konoha is allied with, to be of any help to you. It's everyone for themselves out there. That means the only people you might be able to trust are each other." He paused to let that sink in. "Help each other. Watch each other's backs."

"At least until the finals. Then, rip each other to shreds!"

"Obito!"

Asuma sighed. "It will be difficult enough to even get to the finals. But don't worry, I know you will be successful."

"But if you feel the need to quit...well, someone might make some money. Keep that in mind, okay?"

Kurenai scowled at him.

"Gosh," Ino said quietly to Naruto, "why is your sensei such an asshole?"

Naruto glared at her. "I think it's because he could kick both your sensei's butts at the same time."

Ino pulled back, affronted.

"Naruto," Obito scolded. "Don't say things like that!" An affectionate hand found the top of his head. "Really, that-very improper. That's very bad. We don't say that with guests around." Naruto rolled his eyes, shrugging him off.

"I-Is that true?"

Kurenai sighed minutely before answering Hinata. "Obito, despite his childish attitude, is very powerful. He is certainly deserving of your respect."

"Oooh, so close. The answer we were looking for was 'Yes.'"

Shikamaru sighed. "So they got a powerhouse for a sensei? Troublesome."

"Hey," Asuma said, "Differences in sheer power can always be made up by ingenuity and will. That's something you three—all of you, I imagine—have in spades. You're from Konoha, and that means you have the skills to overcome adversity and succeed."

Naruto started to giggle, suddenly unable to contain his excitement. "Yes, yes, yes! The Chunin Exams...look, Kiba, you're an asshole, as is Sasuke. Ino...er, anyway the point is. Despite all that, we're from the best village ever and even if we get knocked around a bit, we're gonna knock everyone else even harder until we fucking win! It's about time to show everyone what some rookies from Konoha can do. Now, who's with me?!"

"Yes!"

Everyone turned to look at Hinata. She turned beet red and shrunk behind her coat. Everyone else laughed.

"Fuck you guys," Naruto grumbled.

"Your speeches need work," Kiba said, punching him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, take notes! This is how it's done," Ino started, beginning her own motivational speech. They started booing before she could finish.

It was a long trip. It didn't feel like it.

* * *

Sasuke's whole body tensed and coiled as his anger boiled beneath the surface. His was a keg ready to explode through the competition at any and every moment.

He scanned the surroundings with an attention few others could muster, the red of his Sharingan flickering in and out of his eyes. The large building was simple, unlike some of the more ornate resorts of Springside Village. It was the location for the exams inside the Land of Hot Springs.

It reminded him of their hotel, in which they had spent the previous night preparing. It was a subtly rundown though large wooden building surrounded by brightly lit shops and opulent resorts. Sasuke counted the windows in an instant, calculated the approximate size, height, capacity.

His focus gave him clarity.

It helped him tune out the inane attention of Ino and the boisterous declarations of Kiba. The odd tourist pointed out the group of ninja with excitement as they passed, but none would dare approach. None of that mattered now.

Naruto and Sakura followed him as they travelled up the stairs. The rest of the rookies followed as well, but it was only the two of them who could tell when he got serious. They arrived at the location of the first task.

It was a huge lecture hall with steps that sloped down to the front. It was filled to the brim with teams of genin. Many of them turned to face them as the Konoha ninja entered. Most turned back, but some kept staring, hostility radiating off them in waves.

Sasuke tried to carefully memorize the most hostile teams, but he was more inclined to quickly survey the room for a spot from which to observe the competition. He started walking towards a corner. Sakura grabbed Naruto before he could make a scene, dragging the blonde after him.

Regardless, Naruto was bouncing up and down ever so slightly with excitement and anxiety. He wanted to prove himself, but he didn't have the self-control to keep from starting a fight and getting them disqualified.

While many teams watched them warily, none of them caused any problems, each turning to stare at someone else as Sasuke maneuvered through the hall. Sasuke noted their headbands as he passed. Suna. Kumo. Grass. Pine. Star. Mountain. Waterfall. Rain. Haze. There were others he didn't recognize.

None of them caused any problems. That was until now.

A team stood directly in front of them, moving to cut Sasuke off when he tried to move past them.

He didn't recognize their headbands. If he had to guess, he'd say it looked like a bunch of tiny rocks. He resigned to ask Sakura later.

"Excuse me," Sasuke said evenly.

There were three of them as was the case for most, but not all teams; some had fewer.

"Do you know who I am? Where I'm from?" He was practically snarling already.

Sasuke eyes swept carefully over them. The overly aggressive speaker likely specialized in ninjutsu, both of his teammates in taijutsu. He was the nominal leader; the girl watched his back with a mixture of sympathy and anger. She seemed to think he was in the right despite picking a fight, which meant she would be quick to support him when the leader inevitably overextended. His other teammate's arms were crossed with a tinge of embarrassment accompanying that same sense of righteousness. He would be unprepared. Sasuke would capitalize on that. The girl would remain, but with both her teammates incapacitated...

Also, Sasuke saw no clear way to diffuse the situation. To be fair, he didn't try very hard.

"No." Sasuke said, adjusting his stance.

"New Iwa," he said, stepping forward to shove him, "remember it."

Sasuke stepped smoothly to the side, twisting out of the way. He grabbed the New Iwa genin's wrist with one hand as his other reached for his sword.

A hand slapped over his wrist. "Sasuke!"

There was a moment where nearly everyone was caught off guard. Team 8 and 10 instinctually slipped into their teams. The New Iwa took the opportunity to rip his hand free and take a step back, reaching for his own weapon and being stopped by his own female teammate. His other teammate's arms had uncrossed as he watched the Konoha ninja warily.

Sasuke turned half away from them to glance back at Sakura. She looked somewhere between uncertain and incredulous. He could practically hear her quietly reciting the rules of the exam to him and a half-asleep Naruto. Fighting at the wrong time could get them disqualified.

Sasuke released his sword, shrugging her off. She sent him an apologetic look, but he just shook his head. She was right. That was stupid.

Beside him, Naruto pouted, rising from a ready position.

Sasuke turned back to watch the New Iwa genin warily. It was tense. Konoha outnumbered them, but the New Iwa team or at least the lead genin, didn't seem to care.

They had gained the attention of others, curious and opportunistic genin analyzing them all for weakness. Sasuke felt his fellow Konoha ninja pulling in tighter around him, huddling together against the crowd.

The New Iwa genin was still brimming with anger. "Satoru," the girl cautioned, halfheartedly attempting to stop him. He shrugged her off and stepped forward.

They would have to evade only, Sasuke decided. Hopefully, that would keep them from being disqualified.

"So," Ino began, "New Iwa, huh? What happened to Old Iwa?"

The New Iwa team bristled at her question. But, somehow, the more they talked, the less they seemed likely to attack.

Satoru was livid. "Fucking Konoha happened! Iwa was a peaceful village among the original Five Great Shinobi Villages. Your Hokage razed it to the ground!"

"The original Five? That must have been almost a hundred years ago!" Ino replied.

It was, Sasuke vaguely recalled. Iwa had caused the First Shinobi World War, but they were unprepared for Konoha's swift response.

They fell.

"You think that makes a difference? The women and children and peaceful ninja killed? It doesn't matter because it happened a long time ago?" He scoffed, thrusting his hands into his pockets as his eyes darkened. "My grandfather was just a kid, but he told me about the story, the dream of Iwa, great and powerful. He told me about the slaughter. He told me how your aggression doomed the whole world to war." The genin's eyes darkened as he turned away. "And, he told me of the flames. Flames so hot that they burned a scar into the earth where the village once stood. A scar that they say will never fade." He turned back to glare at the Konoha ninja. "He died hating the village that killed his sister. He didn't get to see Iwa return, new, from the rubble. But we will. And it will be through your hearts."

No one responded. Beside him, Sasuke could feel Sakura shifting uncomfortably at the inaccuracies in the ninja's story, but she knew better than to pick a fight.

"What a load of bull!" Naruto exclaimed.

"It's true," Satoru snarled. "You serve a village that thrives on genocide, death, and destruction. Even now, you'll claim to want peace while marching into bloody wars. You want me to list some? How about Sky country? How about the massacre of the Flowing Ridge? You're all the same. And-"

Before anything further could occur, the exam proctor appeared in a burst of smoke, ordering them into silence. The New Iwa genin glared darkly at them as they slunk away. Naruto still seemed slightly taken aback, but his fists were clenched. Sakura pulled him from his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder.

It was time for the first exam to begin.

* * *

Well, that was underwhelming.

"That was so easy," Naruto exclaimed as they hopped.

"You're just saying that because Hinata let you cheat off her test."

"Who cares? I could have gotten by on the last question alone!"

The first exam had passed without incident. However, they weren't the only ones to get out so well.

"Look how many people are left," Sakura said.

Sasuke had. It was nearly two hundred from over fifty teams. Only around a third had been eliminated.

Whatever came next would have to thin the herd.

Eventually they were led to a forested area just outside of the town. There was a fence sectioning off the rest of the forest along with a wooden signpost with a semicircle on it.

Their eccentric proctor turned to face them. "Right, okay..." Anko began, consulting some notes she had been handed. "Alright, listen up maggots. It's time for the second exam."

She proceeded to explain the rules. They would each be given one of three scrolls. They needed to get all three and make it to the tower within 72 hours. There were 59 teams remaining at Sasuke's latest count. And this meant at least two-thirds would be eliminated.

She held up the three scrolls. There was a white "Life", a black "Death" scroll, and a final "Rebirth" scroll that was a collage of color. "Any questions?

She left, stepping away, leaving only the wooden post behind. So much for a map.

* * *

 _Munch-munch-munch-munch._ "So," Choji started. _Munch-munch._ "Which way should we go, Shika?"

That was the question wasn't it? Shikamaru stared at the drawing of the semicircular forest with exasperation. "Troublesome."

Apparently, they would enter through multiple gates along the curved perimeter, but those, like the tower itself, were _helpfully_ left off the map. All in all, it was pretty uninformative outside of indicating the particular shape of the forest.

The shape.

Shikamaru looked at the fence cordoning off the forest, his eyes following the gently curving structure. An unwelcome chill worked its way down his spine.

"Does it matter?" Ino interjected "We'll find a team and take them out Ino-Shika-Cho style!"

Shikamaru looked back to the competitors spread out along the field.

"But, Ino, don't we have to get two scrolls?" Choji asked, his mouth still full.

"Whatever!"

He reexamined the forest edge, then recounted the teams, then rechecked the map. No matter how many times he looked the conclusion remained the same. He could barely keep himself from shaking.

"Whatcha thinking about, Shikamaru?" Choji asked, with a noteworthy pause from eating.

Shikamaru didn't answer immediately. He kept himself from shaking, but the fear remained.

* * *

"Ready, Akamaru?" Kiba asked.

"Yip, Yip!"

Shino adjusted his glasses.

Kiba turned to her. "Hinata?"

"Y-Yes. I'm ready!"

* * *

"There are quite a number of genin remaining. It will be a joy to compete against them!"

"Don't forget, Lee, we have a mission."

Neji's eyes opened and the veins around them receded.

"The forest is a near perfect semicircle with a diameter of seven kilometers. The tower is located at the radial center."

Tenten's eyes widened. Seven kilometers? With this many teams?!

"Yosh! It sounds like a most worthy challenge for our youthful abilities!"

"And the mission?" Tenten asked.

The veins near Neji's eyes bulged and faded once more. "All targets have been acquired. Their fates are sealed."

* * *

"But what if the scroll opens accidentally? Or, what if..."

* * *

"Yes, Mother...yes."

* * *

Sasuke sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, staring down the opposition as teams were called to retrieve their scrolls. They were led to their gates. He couldn't tell which team had which scroll.

Naruto plopped down next to him. He was practically buzzing, but they needed a plan. Sakura sat next to Naruto.

"Since there are so many teams left, we'll have to be careful," Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh, yep."

"We find the tower. It will probably be along the perimeter or in the middle. Regardless, it shouldn't take long to find. The main focus is getting scrolls quickly.

"Yes!"

Sasuke sighed. "Calm down, Naruto. Focus."

Naruto laughed. "Hell no! Don't you get it, the Chunin exams are picking up for real now, surviving in the forest, fighting off other teams...!"

"There are a lot of teams remaining. Charging in headfirst isn't our best bet."

Sakura spoke up. "Shouldn't we...play to our strengths?" She added tentatively. "It's what we trained for."

Naruto slung an arm over her shoulders, squeezing her in a hug. She gently pushed him off.

Sasuke turned to look at her. "Charging in blindly into danger?" He said darkly. "That's a terrible idea."

Sakura gave him a small shrug and a half smile. "Not if you're good enough."

Sasuke snorted despite himself, shaking his head. He sighed and didn't argue the point. Naruto took his silence for the surrender it was.

Despite his reluctance, Sasuke felt something relax inside him as the next team was called. Naruto spoke animatedly, bursting with confidence and anticipation. Beside him, Sakura laughed, shaking her head. Sasuke smiled.

Their name was called.

A white Life scroll was handed to them. Naruto handed it over to Sasuke at little more than a look, and he carefully stowed it away.

Then, the three members of Team 7 were led to their gate.

And, when the second exam began, they were ready.

* * *

 **A/N: Ah, nothing like a long layoff to make it feel like fanfiction. What are the chances something like that'll happen again, eh?**

 **I tend to write the main villages as their Japanese names, so I just went with it in story as a way one might distinguish between the "big" and "little" villages. Beats trying to correct it all the time, but it looked a little weird listing them out. Thus, this paragraph.**

 **For reference, the canonical Forest of Death is a full circle with a radius of 10km.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	9. Blood in the Trees

**Blood in the Trees**

* * *

It was as he feared.

The forest was filled with the screeching of metal on metal. The trees shook and swayed as techniques tore between them. There was a shout of pain followed by a roar. It was replaced by a series of explosions from the same direction, followed by screams and pleas for mercy which added to the cacophony of similar noises all around them.

And they were only about 5 meters past the gate.

 _Secret technique: False shadow._ Shikamaru held his hands tightly in a modified rat-seal as another team approached. The shadows, already more concealing than normal, became even more opaque. The team passed them with little more than a glance.

They were laying facedown underneath the underbrush of the forest, concealed by an enhanced shadowing genjutsu that covered them from all directions. Even still, they had to keep a close lookout for any approaching teams.

"How long?" Ino's voice whispered quietly into his ear. He tapped her on the leg 5 times to indicate 5 hours. That was how much longer he could reasonably use the jutsu to conceal them. He only had to refresh it periodically after setting it up, but even the small amount of required chakra would drain on him after a while if it was the only concealment technique they used.

The _False Shadow_ technique was just that. A yin style genjutsu used to conceal the user in artificial shadows, often in already existing ones. It was said that it was a useful jutsu invented for assassination. Of course, most people believed it was actually invented to help the Nara avoid work.

Whatever the purpose, it was certainly serving one now. With so many teams in such a small area, the forest had become a veritable war zone.

The only way to avoid wading into the inevitable bloodbath, Shikamaru had reasoned, was to stay practically at the gate and hide. Luckily, their gate had been off to one side of the arc of the forest, meaning most teams would pass by them as they traveled closer to the center, either along the edge or through the middle.

Six such teams had passed them along the gate, including a brutal battle between two of those teams. They were forced to watch as a totally unmatched genin was gutted and his teammates burned alive. He could swear he could still hear their screams.

Or was that just the forest's current soundtrack?

They had been there for four hours, but the fighting was still going on everywhere. The best they could do was keep their head down and hope no one with advanced sensing abilities or a fancy kekkei genkai found them.

Easier said than done.

Ino frantically poked him. Contact. And they were practically on top of them.

From the inside of the forest a team burst past them, stopping at their gate. Their gleaming New Iwa headbands did not give him any peace of mind.

The girl was carrying a large metal mace on her back. One of the guys had two hammers. The last wasn't carrying any discernible weapons, but he _was_ the one looking dangerously close to their hiding spot.

"What's wrong, Kenji?" The girl asked. Her fingers tightened around the handle of her mace. The business end gleamed with crimson streaks, but the team looked no worse for wear.

"I thought I felt something." He walked a couple feet closer to their hiding spot.

'Felt something.' Shikamaru's blood went cold. A sensor. No, no, no, no. He was about to find them. Do something!

But he didn't; he was frozen in place. His mind was going a mile a minute, but nothing he thought of made a bit of difference.

Kenji ran through a few handsigns and touched the ground. His eyes widened and looked right at them.

All Shikamaru could think was that he should have come up with a better plan, laid traps, something. They were about to fight to the death and he really didn't like their odds.

Kenji opened his mouth, then stilled.

Suddenly, he turned frantically to his teammates. "This way! Hurry!"

He leapt away off to his left towards the eastern parts of the forest. His teammates seemed confused, but quickly followed after him.

Then there was a blessed moment of silence.

Shikamaru breathed. He didn't realize he had stopped actually. He also didn't realize what had happened until he felt Ino slumped against him.

A massive roar, shouts, screams, the trees shook again.

"Shintenshin no jutsu, successful." He whispered in relief. Shikamaru shook his head as if to clear it. "Ugh, that was too close."

"Won't-won't they come back when they get outside the range of Ino's jutsu?" Choji asked. The fear was evident in his voice. The violence and brutality of the second exam had been hardest on him.

"She'll probably lead them into a battle. Even if they win, they might overlook the lapse in memory." Kenji probably wouldn't forget spotting them though and Choji didn't seem convinced. "We'll have to ask Ino when she wakes up, but we might have to move anyway."

That satisfied Choji, but it didn't relieve his fear. And it shouldn't have. There was only one sure way to make sure that team wouldn't be back to attack them. A way Choji's kind-hearted nature might be inclined to resist.

He only hoped Ino was able to push the blade home.

* * *

"Fuck!"

A blast of blue fire met his next _Pressure Break_ , igniting it in an explosion that traveled back to his outstretched hands and sent him crashing through the trees. His palms burned, but he had managed to save all of his fingers. What clones he had remaining around him shifted to cover him as his opponent weaved awkwardly through them.

A puff of smoke had all of the clones transforming to match his injuries. Naruto disappeared within them as his duplicates zigzagged past each other. He retreated into the trees as the ninja fought through them.

They had run into two teams almost immediately once they had entered the forest. No problem, Naruto had thought, a wave of clones surrounding the battlefield as they fought. But a stray jutsu and explosions had driven two more teams out of hiding. From there, the battle had devolved into chaos.

Flashes of the battle filled his head, but many of them were so quick and so short that they were useless.

A pain in his chest as Sakura weaved through the trees. Spasms of electricity. The girl's blast of water soared over Sasuke and hit him.

Naruto couldn't keep track of everything; the enemy ninja were happy to eliminate any clones he made as quickly as possible. There were small groups transformed to look like himself or his teammates, but their numbers had all but dwindled away.

Two of the weaker teams had fallen, but their battle suddenly overlapped with yet another battle of three separate ninja teams, with two Kumo teams taking on a team from Waterfall. That was when the three of them had been separated.

Naruto still knew that they were okay—the benefit of his clones' ability—but they could hardly coordinate with three other teams in between them at any moment.

With another memory, Naruto veered towards Sakura.

It seemed what remained of the Waterfall team was nowhere to be found, and she was at the center of eight Sakura-shaped clones. Her staff glowed green, stretching out to ward off the two Kumo ninja attempting to attack her.

They avoided the dangerous blade. Another Kumo ninja lay on the ground to demonstrate its effectiveness.

But that wasn't the biggest problem. An arrow punched through five of the Sakuras at once, crashing into the ground in a spray of earth. Sakura screamed as the barrage of dirt and sharp stones cut into her face and eyes. One of the Kumo ninja advanced on Sakura as she tried to rush to find cover behind a tree, only to have his shoulder explode in a shower of red mist when another arrow punched through it. He fell with a terrible sound.

Naruto rushed towards the archer, weaving through the canopy to find him crouched on a branch as he notched an arrow aimed at the temporarily blinded Sakura. He spun at the last second, raising his arrow to block Naruto's kunai. The sharp blade hit the arrow with a dull _clang_ as if it was made of stone.

The archer flipped down from the trees, notching and releasing his arrow right at Naruto. Naruto leaned back at the last second, the weighty missile skimming past his head as he fell from the branch.

Naruto grabbed onto another tree branch as he fell, flipping up to right himself. Three arrows shot toward him, faster than before. He dodged to the side and the wooden projectiles stuck harmlessly into a tree. The archer disappeared into the underbrush.

The good thing was that Sakura was okay. She was making her way towards Sasuke, he realized in a flash of insight.

"Shi-!" Naruto's eyes widened as clones frantically dispersed and he spun to deflect an attack. His arms raised too slow and a hard shin cracked across the side of his head. He fell from the trees, ears ringing.

He righted himself as he tumbled awkwardly through the branches, stumbling into a crouch. His hands came together in his signature seal, and clones burst into existence, jumping up towards his attacker.

The last Kumo ninja's eyes were wide with fury as he smashed through the clones. The odd kunai found its mark, but it did nothing to deter him as he landed and tackled Naruto to the ground.

Naruto strained to free himself as they landed, but the genin was much bigger, older and stronger.

"Get. Off." Naruto pushed and twisted, managing to slip a kunai in between his blackened fingers.

The Kumo pulled up to smash his fist into Naruto's face only to rear back with a roar of pain as Naruto frantically slashed the knife across his eye.

Naruto squirmed to get free, but couldn't as the older genin smashed down on top of him, slamming his sweaty shoulder into his face before elbowing him repeatedly across his nose.

Naruto coughed and sputtered as his nose broke and a dull ache built behind his eyes. His arm was pinned. Blood trailed down the genin's wild face from his mangled eye, but he struck again.

Three of Naruto's remaining clones were able to jump onto his back, holding the genin back as he struggled against them. Naruto pulled his arm free to sloppily dig a kunai towards his liver, once, twice, and he howled with pain, backhanding the kunai out of his hand. He tried to slam down on the blonde again, but Naruto's clones half-pulled, half-tackled him to the side, freeing Naruto.

The Kumo genin struggled against the dog pile, getting weaker and weaker.

Naruto, stumbling to his feet, was already chasing after Sakura, who rushed toward Sasuke. He didn't think, he couldn't. There wasn't time for that.

Keep moving.

His breaths came heavily as he ignited the Fox's chakra. It did little to resolve the pain between his ears or the exhaustion of his injuries.

Naruto weaved through the trees. Sasuke had been dealing with the lion's share of the teams, six other genin around him. There were three Kumo ninja, one Pine ninja—the last of the team—and two from Grass.

The two Grass ninja were fighting the archer from before, keeping him at bay with shuriken and senbon.

Sasuke was weaving between the trees, dodging the lone Kumo ninja attempting to pin him down. He used a naginata. The blade of the spear shot off toward Sasuke, attempting to impale him, before magically returning to the shaft of the genin's weapon.

Sasuke had a cut on his chest, but he seemed okay. Shuriken weaved through the trees. There were wires attached to them that the Kumo ninja cut through as best he could to avoid being tangled, but the distraction meant more and more cuts were opening up on his skin.

Sakura suddenly engaged the spear-wielding genin, giving Sasuke the opening he needed to sink a kunai into his skull.

One of the Kumo ninja attacking the Pine girl roared, turning towards Sasuke, but it left him open, and the girl sunk the push dagger at the end of her fist into his back. The other Kumo ninja electrocuted her with a sparking palm in retaliation, stunning her, and Sasuke's fuma shuriken ripped through her stomach before detaching to stab into the Kumo ninja as well, expertly taking advantage of the opportunity presented.

Naruto landed on the battlefield.

The blue flame ninja had joined up with his archer teammate to push through the Grass ninja towards their fallen teammate.

Naruto ran towards Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke's eyes widened frantically, his mouth opening and Naruto hit the dirt. A crackling blade flew over his head. He rolled to see a redheaded girl with amber eyes stabbing down towards him.

Not another team from Kumo!?

Her sword crackled with energy. It missed him as he rolled, sliding through the ground with ease, a bright discharge shooting off of it that caused his muscles to spasm and twitch painfully. His mouth opened in surprise and pain as she pulled her sword out to stab him.

She broke off her attack, jumping back as a glowing green blade stretched out to impale her. Sakura rushed to his aid.

Naruto coughed as he recovered, still resisting the urge to blow his shattered nose. He pulled himself up carefully, and Sakura slid beside him, her hands glowing green as his head—but not his nose—began to clear.

"Thanks, Saku-"

There was a hum of energy building then an arc of lightning discharge left the Kumo ninja's sword. It whizzed past Sakura, whose eyes went wide as she weaved out of the way before raising her staff, which flashed blue in panic, to deflect the follow-up sword. The lightning covered blade bit slightly into the wood of her staff regardless.

Clones burst into existence to shield them, and it didn't come a moment too soon. A wave of blue fire covered all three of them, and they scattered. Naruto and Sakura rushed back toward Sasuke; the other two, new Kumo ninja pushed him into the trees.

There was a rush of air, a dull whine as they ran, and the Pine ninja landed in a blast of blue flames that destroyed Naruto's clones and sent Naruto and Sakura tumbling in different directions.

Naruto rolled to his feet to see the Pine ninja charge the prone Sakura. The archer raced into the trees after Sasuke and the other Kumo ninja. Sakura cut surreptitiously into the blue-flame ninja's leg from the ground and he sprawled to the ground with a shout of pain. Sakura crawled to her feet and ran into the trees.

Naruto ran after her, only to be cut off by the redheaded Kumo ninja once again.

He made clones to protect himself and follow them. Her electrically charged sword sawed through the ones he sent toward her with ease. She was still fresh whereas he could feel himself slowing as he reached for more chakra.

He ducked out of the way of her slashes, hopping backwards to pepper her with kunai. She deflected them carefully as she advanced.

Then Naruto's clones disperses in a wave of pain. Sasuke was cornered. Sakura screamed.

Naruto grabbed a handful of the Kyuubi's chakra with little more than a blink. A _Pressure Break_ slammed forward, clipping the redhead in the shoulder as she dodged and sending her spinning away.

Naruto tore towards the forest. At the same time, the other two Kumo ninja ran out, coughing painfully, their eyes watering. The blonde pulled her teammate out of the way as Naruto barreled past them.

"Sasuke! Sakura!" He shouted. There was a yellow mist that burned at his eyes and skin, but he had to find them. He rushed to where his clone dispersed with his breath held.

He landed to see Sakura's staff broken and sizzling from the caustic mist. "Sakura!" He shouted, coughing. He released another, huge _Pressure Break,_ clearing the mist.

Two Pine ninja advanced on a fallen Sakura and a limping Sasuke crouched in front of her. The larger one had metal claws on his hands, the other a Jo staff.

Naruto landed with a crash in front of them, clones swarming to push the two of them back.

But another deluge of yellow mist poured out of the clawed one in all directions. Naruto's clones popped with ease as the acid spread through them and the clawed Pine ninja disappeared beneath it with a dark grin.

His teammate met Naruto's frantic eyes calmly, his staff held down in front of him. Scores of clones still stood between them as the mist spread to pop them. They wouldn't last.

Sasuke's leg was drenched and twitching. And Sakura...

There was a lot of blood. Her upper arm had a deep, vertical gash that sizzled and burned as it grew deeper and wider; her flesh sloughed off in putrid chunks. What had started as a cut had spread to a hole of emptiness where her upper bicep had been, breaking down muscle and arteries as it raced towards the bone.

The genin watched impassively as Naruto grabbed his teammates and _ran_.

The last of the blonde's clones popped behind him, writhing in pain as the mist consumed them and the ninja completely.

* * *

 _Byakugan!_

As dusk settled, the veins around Hinata's eyes bulged. She nodded slightly to Kiba. He smirked and began talking loudly about laying traps near the tower.

Team 8 was exceptionally good at tracking enemies, but those same abilities meant they were also exceptionally good at avoiding the brutal battles that had filled the forest during the day. As night fell, they would take advantage of the local wildlife and pick off the teams that fell into their traps.

The leeches fell down around the team, sucking them dry as Kiba gloated and Hinata stared on impassively. She had seen far worse already throughout the forest. Even if she hadn't...

She wouldn't fail. She needed to be strong.

 _Naruto-kun...I won't give up!_

* * *

It had been a long day for Samui and her team. They were a capable team that focused on close combat. To take advantage of this without overextending themselves, they traveled from battle to battle, waiting to strike after other teams had worn themselves down fighting each other.

They were fairly successful, having acquired two scrolls already. And, as long as they kept to their strategy, the danger should have been limited.

Wreathed in purple chakra, the beast roared and _charged,_ smashing through the meager water wall and its user.

"What is that?!" Omoi yelled. His katana crackled with electricity, but his opponent had rushed towards the monster in a vain attempt to protect his teammate. Karui and Samui had landed beside him.

"A jinchuriki," Samui assessed coolly.

The artificial jinchuriki batted aside the teammate with a swing of one of his purple tails. The genin rolled to his feet in time to see his teammate ripped in two by huge purple claws of chakra.

He screamed.

"What-what the hell?! How are there still jinchuriki in the chunin exam-Don't you fucking say it!" Karui yelled, rounding on Omoi as he opened his mouth. Her finger pointed at him accusingly, but it trembled all the same.

"What if...it comes for us?" Omoi said.

"We should retreat," Samui said after a moment.

They ran, leaving the roars and screams behind.

* * *

Night had fallen.

"Where's Mirai?"

Kiryu didn't answer. He couldn't answer, his feet slapping frantically over the tree roots and burnt grass as he weaved through the forest. Honami coughed, warm spittle spraying against Kiryu's neck as he slowed to a stop in a safe spot.

He slid Honami off his back as gently as possible, which was hardly gentle at all as he stumbled and fell. She groaned in pain, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

Kiryu pulled himself to his knees, sliding over to look at his teammate. Her lips were bloody. His trembling hands checked her vitals quickly, airway, breathing, circulation.

There was a dull crunch as he pressed gently against her chest, and she stifled moans of pain that finished in hacking coughs tinged red.

The drops of spittle were cold against Kiryu's neck.

"Kiryu," Honami said again, her eyes were dilated, and unfocused. "Where's Mirai?"

He couldn't answer, couldn't think about it. He had to worry about Honami, had to help her. Her ribs were broken, her breaths coming faster and shallower. There was blood in her lungs, filling them up.

The proper treatment was...was... He spilled his pouch open, discarding the useless first aid equipment and ninja tools.

"It hurts," she said. She tried to sit up, her face contorting in pain as she coughed and fell. Kiryu caught her, guiding her gently back down.

"Hey, hey, don't do that," he said. It would only cause more damage. But if he didn't do something soon...

He threw the empty pouch away with a yell of frustration. His fist hit the ground with a dull _thump._

It hurt.

"Kiryu," she said more softly.

His eyes closed tight. He knew what she was going to ask. He couldn't answer.

Mirai was 700 meters behind them. Mirai had been surrounded by enemies. Mirai's mouth was gently agape as he fell to the floor. Mirai had a hole the size of a human head in his chest. Mirai wasn't coming.

Mirai was dead.

"How bad is it?" Honami asked him quietly.

Tears spilled down his cheeks.

And then, he couldn't answer.

Honami's eyes were glassy as she stared at him. Her cheeks were tinged pink not with excitement at a new mission, but with tears and blood. Kiryu had failed the only people he loved.

He thought about that, gripping his kunai so hard that his nails bit into his skin. He wailed and cried, uncaring of the teams that might find him. What more did he have to lose?

He thought about that, staring at his knife until it reflected himself in its sharp edge.

It fell, red, from his hand.

* * *

They had survived the day.

For that, Shikamaru was grateful. A combination of traditional stealth and his Nara clan techniques had avoided any more close encounters.

When Ino woke up, she said that the team was blindsided by a green blur and an explosion, and she pulled out to avoid mental injuries.

She seemed shaken but firm. Good work.

They moved anyway a bit later and were able to stay out of the battles and rotate on watch to get some sleep.

Now, however, there was a problem. Getting scrolls. The upside of avoiding the bloodbath that had occurred was somewhat canceled out by the realization that many of the weaker teams _hadn't_. The survivors would be far more difficult to defeat.

There were advantages as well. Injuries and exhaustion would give them an otherwise unlikely edge. Similarly, as teams settled in for the night, they would have the element of surprise on their hand.

Ideally, at least.

Shikamaru knew that they couldn't be the only team with this kind of plan. There was a small likelihood that there would be a second bloodbath where the nocturnally aggressive teams collided. He did not want to be a part of that.

The trick was to find a team quickly, take them out and retreat back into hiding as soon as possible.

Not exactly an easy feat. And that was why Shikamaru was so shocked to find a team almost immediately. He signaled Ino and Choji.

There was a lone shinobi keeping watch. He was wearing a headband from Rain. Suddenly, he froze.

"What the-" He cut himself off, his eyes growing dull. He walked towards his teammates, but didn't wake them up.

Ino-shika.

Shikamaru captured his teammates as well with another Shadow Possession Jutsu. They woke up, yelling and struggling against the control, but not for long.

Cho.

"The girl has the scroll." Ino said as she awoke, looking down at the three unconscious Rain genin.

Choji grabbed it and handed it to Shikamaru. The bright white of the Life scroll stared up at him.

One down, one to go.

* * *

"Fuck," Naruto hissed as the remains of the bandage fell apart in his hand. Sakura moaned quietly, her skin unnaturally pale. He pulled out new bandages from her pack.

Naruto had managed to carry his teammates away from the brutal battle. In his desperation, he sent clones in every direction, all searching for a safe place to rest away from potential enemies. It had brought them South. They were nearly at the fence that surrounded the small forest.

As they traveled, his teammates carried by two clones, Naruto had tried to take stock of everything that had happened.

Sasuke had waved off his concern for his leg. One of the Kumo ninja had stabbed it with those lightning swords. He couldn't walk on it.

Sakura had been bleeding out, whimpering quietly as she drifted into unconsciousness. Naruto had panicked. Sasuke had retrieved two blood replenishing pills, popping them into her mouth.

Sakura woke, staying so long enough to instruct them as best she could to deal with her injury as they landed. They washed it out and wrapped it tightly to stop the massive amounts of blood loss.

Two of Naruto's clones had returned, holding a black Death scroll. The Kumo genin he had stabbed had it, Naruto could remember. He didn't try to.

That was yesterday night.

However, as they rested, Sakura's wound grew, the acid eating away at her arm, tearing through the bandages as it reopened the wound and, as Sakura had eventually observed, interfered with its ability to clot. By the time they realized the problem, Sakura had lost as much blood as she retained and then some. Her skin was drawn in, pulse slow and thready, and had been unconsciousness for who knew how long.

They had given her two more blood pills.

Which, technically, was two more than was supposed to be administered in such a short period of time.

But it had brought Sakura back from the brink of death. Now she merely drifted in and out of consciousness as they tried and failed to stabilize her. Sakura couldn't heal herself. She lacked the chakra to do so and the vitality to generate it.

It was the early afternoon on the second day of the exam.

Sakura needed to get out of here. She needed proper medical attention.

Sakura glanced up at him with pain and fear in her eyes. He swallowed hard, scrubbing water into the gaping hole in her arm. She was getting weaker. He wrapped the bandages around her arm tightly as her eyes closed.

He looked to Sasuke. He was heavily favoring his left leg. The right one spasmed occasionally as the clean white bandages were slowly discolored by a growing stain.

Naruto's own fingers hurt, not just from the gentle sting of acid, but from the flames he nearly ate the previous day. His clothes were similarly scorched. His nose—reset by Sasuke's less than gentle hand—still ached. The bruises he'd gathered gnawed at him. He had slept fitfully.

But he could walk.

He could fight.

"I have to go," he said, rising suddenly. Sakura had drifted into a pained sleep. He turned to Sasuke. "Sakura needs to get out of here. We need the third scroll."

Sasuke wanted to protest, putting weight on his right leg for an instant before he hissed in pain as it spasmed. He glared down at it accusingly.

Sasuke's hair hung over his eyes as he tried to find a reason to explain why he could fight with one leg. Finally, Sasuke looked up, meeting his eyes. "You'll be on your own," he said.

Naruto stared back unflinchingly.

Sasuke turned away first. "Just," he began. There was something painful in his voice. "Don't die, okay?"

Naruto nodded stiffly. He wouldn't. He couldn't. If he did...

He couldn't think about it. He just had to win.

Keep moving.

Naruto jumped into the trees.

* * *

Shikamaru woke with a sudden stiffness. A flash of lightning illuminated their hiding spot. It was followed by shouts of frustration which gave way to a roar of defiance and then panicked screams.

They were in a more traditional hiding spot this time, nestled in a small hollow under the roots of a tree covered haphazardly with fallen foliage. Choji or Ino must have woken him. It was a precaution they stuck to whenever a battle got too close to them. They might have to abandon their spot to avoid a stray jutsu or in the event of sudden discovery.

The sun had just set on the second day of the exam. Still on his stomach from sleeping, Shikamaru glanced out from their hiding spot. Looking through a small, shadowed opening he saw four ninja attacking what seemed to be a team of Suna ninja from their garb.

It seemed two teams had ganged up on the one from Suna.

Although, if the _other_ two, non-Suna ninja were any indication, they weren't fairing as well as they'd hoped.

A rain of senbon landed across the battle field, followed by what looked like a wave of kunai. Neither reached the two Suna ninja. There was a beat before a string of explosions went off.

Then, whoever their last teammate was must have done something. The non-Suna ninja's terror seemed matched only by the two Suna ninjas' cavalier attitudes. They almost seemed bored.

Then he heard one of the non-Suna ninja, maybe from Grass, speak clearly for the first time. "What are you!?"

The lone Suna ninja out of sight might have responded. If he did, it was too quiet to hear. There was a rush of something, more screams, a series of sickening cracks and squelches, then silence.

Was that sand?

Choji and Ino were very tense beside him. They must have seen a lot more of the battle leading up to this point. If there was more of it, that was.

It seemed to be over. His head was already back down, his breathing slow and quiet as he waited for the team to leave. They seemed to be discussing something, from the indecipherable murmur. Finally, he heard footsteps begin to retreat. He felt himself relax, but Ino and Choji were still tense beside him.

Then, he heard something that made his heart stop. "I know you're there. Come out now."

Ino shifted beside him, but she didn't slump. She must not have had a clear shot. Troublesome.

"Mother does not like to be kept waiting. And she is still hungry, yes, very hungry. Yes, mother. Yes..." The voice was getting closer, but it was abundantly clear Ino needed a distraction to make this work. He whispered to Choji and Ino. The sand ninja continued raving maniacally, "They will taste so good. I promise. Let me get them for you."

Team 10 burst out from their hiding spot. Choji and Ino zagged left while Shikamaru went right. Just in time too, a hand of sand erupted from beneath the tree to where they had been previously.

Now that he was out, he could see the Suna team clearly. A small redheaded maniac flanked by the blond girl and boy in the cat-suit and makeup. The only blessing was that those two looked just as disinterested in this fight as the previous one.

He could work with that.

His hands had almost immediately clasped in the _Rat_ seal. He slid to a stop as his shadow streaked out towards the redhead.

Before it could reach him, he had to break it off to avoid a wave of sand in his direction. He jumped back towards the forest, scaling backwards up a tree at the edge of the clearing. He threw kunai with an exploding tag at the sand, but he was pretty sure what was going to happen.

The tag went off, disrupting the sand slightly, but barely deterring it. Shikamaru darted right to avoid it.

At the same time, Choji had begun the offensive. His _Spiked Human Meat Tank_ deftly avoided the blasts of sand sent his way and barreled toward the redhead with deadly force. Just before it could hit him, a wall of sand appeared between Gaara and Choji. The spiked ball that was Choji spun futilely against the wall, but ultimately slowed to a stop.

At the same time, the sand chasing Shikamaru and Ino had slowed. Interesting.

Choji was repelled violently by a wave of sand that sent him rolling back towards the forest. In no time, he regained traction and slammed into the redhead's shield again. And again. The third time however, the redhead stuck out his hand.

The sand chasing Ino and Shikamaru had retreated to protect him, but as the wave repelled Choji again a series of sand bullets accompanied him. Choji cried out in pain as his concentration broke and he returned to regular size. He was bleeding, but standing.

Luckily, he had done his job. The redhead's hand was still extended, his whole body frozen. Shadow Possession Jutsu successful.

Ino put her hands together. _Mind-Body Transfer!_

The redhead stilled. His sand slumped to the floor. For a moment, his teammates looked concerned.

"Gaara!" the girl called. She tried to move to help, but couldn't.

Like he'd said, Shadow Possession Jutsu successful. They should have paid more attention.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gaara felt another presence in his mind. It was a strange experience. Mostly because his mother had also felt the presence and had no problem entertaining the guest.

But, for a brief moment, he had felt what little mental strength he had bolstered by this foreign presence. The voice of his mother dimmed. It felt as if taking in a small breath of air after years of drowning.

Then, the drowning resumed in full.

* * *

Ino screamed with such agony that Shikamaru almost let the Shadow Possession drop. Choji rushed towards Ino's side and was blindsided by a blast of sand. The same almost happened to him, but he rolled to the side and watched as all three of the Suna ninja copied his motion. He knew there was a way to capitalize on that. But then a tendril of sand wrapped around his ankle. It lifted him off the ground and slammed him into the tree behind him.

His vision blackened for a moment as he made contact, then returned in a disoriented mess that focused into a terrifying reality.

The redhead—Gaara—had a maniacal grin on his face. A blast of sand hit Choji as he tried to roll into him again. As the jutsu disrupted, sand grinded into him. Then the same sand tore into Ino and then into him.

A wave of sand knocked him back into the trees again. He spun, sliding past the tree he had crashed into last time and landed on the forest floor. But, even the grass felt like fire against his raw skin.

Choji wasn't so lucky. He crashed into the tree line. It seemed his continued aggression had warranted the most of Gaara's attention as wave after wave of sand crashed into him. Ino was already slumped against a tree to the side, either from the mental backlash or Gaara's attack.

Shikamaru stumbled out from behind the tree line. "Stop!" Gaara, wide-eyed and grinning turned to him. "Stop, here, here look. Take our scroll. That's what you want, right? Just take it." He placed the Life scroll on the ground. Ino had their other scroll.

Suddenly the scroll leapt from the ground into the cat-boy's hand. "Nice, a Life scroll." Then his eyes slid slyly to Shikamaru. "That's another set."

What.

Gaara stopped staring at him and looked at Choji. He was breathing deeply like some sort of wild animal. "I will validate my existence." The sand which had stopped began pooling around Choji.

"No, stop! I gave you our scroll. Do you need a different one? We have it. Take it, don't kill him." He stumbled again. Troublesome. His body hurt. A lot. He was really far away from cloud-watching on this one, huh?

"We'll gladly take your other scrolls too, little boy," the girl replied haughtily, "but that's not going to stop Gaara from killing you. Sorry!"

"Yeah, once he gets it in his head, nothing will stop him. Best say your prayers now. Or you could run away. He might not notice you. Too bad for your teammates though." The cat-boy spoke with a similar nonchalance but he was still looking pointedly away from Choji.

Choji was almost completely covered in sand. Shikamaru had no ideas left and not enough chakra, but he had to do something. "Desert Coffin," Gaara said as the sand stopped spreading. He stretched his hand out.

"Desert-" He tried to close his hand, but couldn't. Shikamaru kneeling across the clearing held desperately onto his handseal. It wouldn't be enough; he could feel his control slipping. Gaara could feel it too.

 _Partial_ - _expansion jutsu!_ Choji's upper body expanded to nearly three times his normal size, bursting out of the sand. He smashed his oversized hands at his feet to free himself before throwing an oversized fist at Gaara. Again, it was stopped.

Choji punched again, but his movements were weak and sluggish. Ino was still slumped against the tree. And Shikamaru realized they weren't going to win this battle.

Choji's fist slammed into the shield again. Sand wrapped around it. As Choji struggled to pull it free, dozens of bullets of sand tore into him again. A massive wave of sand sent him flying back into the trees.

Shikamaru stumbled towards Choji. "Choji!" The Partial-Expansion Jutsu broke and Choji crashed into the ground.

Shikamaru threw exploding tags at Gaara as Choji landed. The sand, instead of nailing Choji again, retreated to reinforce Gaara's protection. He made it to Choji.

"Choji."

Choji looked up at him. He was very badly battered, but conscious. He stood back up slowly, but looked more determined than Shikamaru had ever seen him. He felt a surge of warmth and pride at the sight. It made him feel better about what he was about to do. "Choji, take Ino and run."

Choji's eyes widened in surprise that morphed quickly into fear as he realized what Shikamaru was saying. He wanted to protest, Shikamaru could tell, but he would listen. There was no time for arguments.

A wave of sand separated them. Shikamaru landed in the trees. Despite himself, he took one last look at the clouds.

The Shadow Possession Jutsu was originally devised as a delaying tactic. What a drag.

He charged.

A kunai with an exploding tag flew toward the redhead. Gaara's sand protected him. But it left him open for another Shadow Possession.

Shikamaru's body felt numb as his energy depleted completely, but he started backpedaling, forcing Gaara to do the same until he had passed back slightly behind his teammates. They still hadn't participated in the battle and he hoped it stayed that way. Sand had spread across the floor and it reached out to trip him. He landed painfully.

He had pushed Gaara back maybe ten meters and spared maybe ten seconds, but it was enough.

Choji and Ino were gone.

He rolled slowly to the side, hoping to push himself up and run, but the sand grabbed onto his arms. He felt himself flip over before he slammed onto his back again. And again. And again.

His vision flickered in and out with each landing; he lost count of how many times he hit the ground.

Finally, the sand slowly surrounded him. It felt...cold. It spread until only one bleary eye remained uncovered.

Gaara held his hand out. He looked pissed, Shikamaru observed, probably annoyed about not getting to kill Choji and Ino. And that thought, Shikamaru decided, was one he could take to the grave.

Shikamaru didn't see the green blur crash into Gaara's face. He did, however, feel the sand grow colder, painfully colder around him. It got weaker too, before falling away entirely. He didn't have the strength to stand, but someone caught him.

Gaara's teammates looked shocked and outright terrified. Perhaps it was because of the identical green-clad figures holding them each at needle-point.

"You...hit me." Gaara sounded almost confused. But as was often the case, that confusion was quickly giving way to rage.

"I am quite fast." And that was his savior, dressed in a green robe with long black hair tied behind her back. Most shocking, perhaps, was the Kiri headband. "You have what you need. Leave. There is no reason for any more loss of life."

"Uh, lady, what kind of ninja are you?" That was cat-boy. He didn't seem concerned by the clone holding him at "knife" point.

She smiled. "Please go."

Gaara was seething again. "Yes, mother, I will get her blood for you. It will taste so much better than all of those weaklings. Yes! Yes, I will kill her!" He turned to the Kiri girl. "I will kill you and prove my existence."

A wave of sand flew towards her. She raised her hand in front of her in a half-seal. A mirror of ice appeared, colliding with the sand. As the sand bore into the ice, water poured out of it. Even once it broke through, the sand became slower and slower and slower. Eventually it stopped just in front of the girl, the water it had absorbed freezing solid around it. The girl made another half seal and the frozen sand flew back towards Gaara, shattering at his feet.

"You want to prove your existence..." She repeated back to him. She almost seemed sad.

"It's the only way to prove your existence! You want to erase me. So I will erase you and confirm my existence again and again until no one is left."

"And yet, you will still be alone," She replied quietly.

Gaara's eyes widened. "Just shut up and die!"

Tendrils of sand rose from around her, stabbing into the Kiri ninja. She exploded in a shower of water. Gaara roared in anger.

Haku reappeared on a tree branch above with Shikamaru slung over her shoulder. Mist filtered in behind her, shrouding the trees in a heavy fog.

"My name is Yuki Haku, and I know we will meet again. So know this: as long as you fight only for yourself, you will never defeat me." Another streak of sand chased them, but it was futile.

They disappeared into the mist.

* * *

Gaara roared. The clones pinning Kankuro and Temari dispersed, and they ran away as Gaara tore the surrounding forest apart.

When he was done, the resulting desert was far larger than the previous clearing and Gaara was at the epicenter clutching his head.

Kankuro approached slowly. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

"We should set up another trap soon. That way we'll be able to get the Death scroll we need!"

"Good idea!"

Another set of leeches fell on the ninja watching them. The ninja fell from the trees, covered in the blood sucking creatures. There were only two ninja this time, both wearing Pine headbands.

But something was wrong.

The leeches squirmed awkwardly before falling off the ninja completely, some twitched and spasmed, the others sizzled and burned with an acrid smell.

Akamaru growled beside her as her team slipped automatically into formation.

The Pine ninja shook the last of the leeches loose. "Well, that was terrifying," one said with a deadpan. He had a staff on his back.

His teammate grinned toothily, his hands covered with metal claws that dripped with caustic liquid.

"Two for me," he said with a savage smile. Then, he charged.

* * *

Haku carried Shikamaru through the forest. She carefully avoided nearby teams and wildlife. For a long time there was silence, interrupted only by the rush of air as they flew through the trees.

Shikamaru still couldn't believe he was alive. Part of him was convinced this was a very convincing illusion caused by excessive head trauma.

"We will be meeting up with your teammates soon," his savior told him calmly. All he wanted to do was groan and slip into blissful unconsciousness, but his curiosity was peaked.

Why?

"Thank you," he ground out. She looked over her shoulder to smile at him. She was quite pretty, he analyzed with difficulty. Better log that fact away for later.

They landed on the forest floor, near a hill that had the roots of a tree growing through it, making something resembling a cave from the vine-like roots.

She placed him gently down along the outside of the cave.

"Wait!" He said.

She hadn't actually started to leave yet and just smiled at him again.

He pulled himself together, focusing as best he could. "Why did you save me?"

There were a hundred reasons why she shouldn't have. Not least because they were from different villages.

She seemed suddenly uncomfortable. She pulled in on herself, looking away. Finally, "Because I'm right," she said almost to herself, and there was a hint of desperation in her voice.

"Right about what?" He asked, his confusion evident. It snapped her out of her thoughts.

Then, she was close to him, right next to him as she stared deep into his eyes. Shikamaru resisted the urge to squirm. His headache didn't help.

She spoke gently. "You have it, don't you?"

"Lady, I'm far too concussed for these kinds of questions," he said, and she moved back slightly. Shikamaru closed his eyes for a moment to keep his head from pounding. "What the hell are you talking about?"

She regarded him carefully. "I believe that there is something that can make one truly strong. When one has it, they can force past their limits and succeed in the impossible." Then, more quietly, "Do you know what this is?"

"Are you-are you asking me a riddle?" Now? When he was half-concussed and exhausted? It sounded like work he wouldn't bother with if he was 100%.

She serenely inclined her head in the affirmative.

"Pass," he responded.

Her serene exterior faltered. "W-What?"

"Pass. I give up. Sounds like a drag to be honest."

She stared at him for a long time. "You are...not quite what I expected."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting a nagging woman to save me," he said, grumbling to himself.

"I should have let you been crushed then," She said gently as if dutifully accepting the reprimand and resigning to allow him to be killed in all future circumstances.

Shikamaru cut off his complaining with a noisy exhale and looked away. "Troublesome."

Haku laughed. "No, you are not what I expected, but your heart is noble."

"Whatever you say."

She didn't respond, just smiling that same smile as she turned away to check their surroundings.

Shikamaru tried to use the time to clear his head. What was going on? A foreign ninja had saved him because he had some special something? What, a love of cloud-watching? An unapologetic avoidance of work? Low expectations for himself? He better figure it out. Who knew if she might suddenly decide he didn't have it anymore?

"Are you thinking about it?" She asked as she returned.

The stream of Shikamaru's thoughts ground to a halt. "No," he said warily.

She laughed triumphantly, a clear, ringing sound. "Yes, you are!"

Shikamaru did his best to change the subject. "Why aren't you getting scrolls?"

She gently patted her side. "I have the complete set."

That made even less sense. She didn't even need to kill him and take his scroll to win. "So..." Wait, what? "Then, why aren't you going to the tower?"

"We're waiting for your friends," she said it as if the answer should have been obvious, but there was a glint in her eyes that meant she was beginning to enjoy his confusion. Shikamaru resisted the urge to groan.

Honestly, he was still having a hard time putting everything together. The conclusion was she was...just...nice?

"I don't intend to 'nag'," she began again, "Nara-san, I see in you a great strength. It is the same strength that allowed you to push past your limits just now. Don't you know why?"

He didn't. "I think you're going to tell me," he replied with mild exasperation. He had pushed past his limits? When? Fighting that monster? He was just going crazy trying to keep his friends from dying. It wasn't like he won.

Haku met his eyes as he considered the previous events. He felt like squirming under her gaze once more.

But she found something in his eyes. "I think...you already know," she responded slowly. And then she smiled, nodding with increasing certainty and jubilation.

There was a rustle in the trees, and her cheerful demeanor disappeared in an instant. Haku looked up tensely, a senbon needle in her hand as if it had always been there, before relaxing. She looked back to Shikamaru, her intensity replaced with something else as she moved closer to him.

Then she kissed him, her cold lips pressing into his forehead, her cold fingers against his cheek, whispering, "I know you will understand. And, when you do," she pulled back just far enough to stare into his eyes, so that her face filled his entire view. She laughed laugh softly at a joke only the two of them knew, "you won't need me to rescue you."

She disappeared.

Shikamaru watched the tiny pinpricks of snow fall where she had stood.

Choji and Ino came through the trees. They stumbled over to him with tears in their eyes.

They said things to him too, but whether because of the concussion or something else, he barely heard them.

He hoped it was the concussion.

Idly, he scratched his cheek.

How troublesome.

* * *

 **A/N: femHaku is only Haku.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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